Peripartum responses of dairy cows to prepartal feeding level and dietary fatty acid source

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Abstract

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of feeding level and oilseed supplementation during the close-up dry period on energy balance (EB), hepatic lipidosis, metabolic status, and productivity in early lactation. Seventy-seven Holstein cows were blocked according to parity and expected calving date and then assigned randomly to 1 of 6 treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial allocation with 2 feeding levels: ad libitum (AL) or 30% feed restriction (FR), and 3 dietary fatty acid sources: canola seed, linola seed, or flaxseed at 8% of dietary dry matter (DM), to enrich the rations with oleic, linoleic, or linolenic acids, respectively during the last 4 wk of gestation. After parturition, all cows were fed a common lactation diet. Cows fed AL lost less body weight (-2.9 vs. -6.0%) and body condition score (+0.67 vs. -2.30%), and consequently were in more positive EB (+4.6 vs. -0.3 Mcal) during the prepartum period than cows subjected to FR. Postpartum, FR cows lost less body weight (-9.7 vs. -12.4%) and experienced less severe negative EB (-4.5 vs. -7.0 Mcal) than AL cows. Cows fed AL had higher plasma insulin (6.8 vs. 4.4 μIU/mL) and lower nonesterified fatty acid concentrations (436 vs. 570 mEq/mL) during the close-up period than cows subjected to FR. Cows fed AL tended to have lower liver glycogen content in early lactation than cows subjected to FR (4.4 vs. 2.9 μg/g of DM), but had similar triglyceride content (13.1 ± 1.2 μg/g of DM). Fatty acid source did not influence response variables. In conclusion, eliminating intake depression by FR during the close-up period had positive carryover effects on EB and metabolic status during early lactation, but feeding linoleic and linolenic acids via unprotected oilseeds only had negligible effects on peripartum responses. © 2011 American Dairy Science Association.

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APA

Hayirli, A., Keisler, D. H., & Doepel, L. (2011). Peripartum responses of dairy cows to prepartal feeding level and dietary fatty acid source. Journal of Dairy Science, 94(2), 917–930. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2010-3674

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