A 100-Year Review: From ascorbic acid to zinc—Mineral and vitamin nutrition of dairy cows

Abstract

Mineral and vitamin nutrition of dairy cows was studied before the first volume of the Journal of Dairy Science was published and is still actively researched today. The initial studies on mineral nutrition of dairy cows were simple balance experiments (although the methods available at the time for measuring minerals were anything but simple). Output of Ca and P in feces, urine, and milk was subtracted from intake of Ca and P, and if values were negative it was often assumed that cows were lacking in the particular mineral. As analytical methods improved, more minerals were found to be required by dairy cows, and blood and tissue concentrations became primary response variables. Those measures often were poorly related to cow health, leading to the use of disease prevalence and immune function as a measure of mineral adequacy. As data were generated, mineral requirements became more accurate and included more sources of variation. In addition to milk yield and body weight inputs, bioavailability coefficients of minerals from different sources are used to formulate diets that can meet the needs of the cow without excessive excretion of minerals in manure, which negatively affects the environment. Milk, or more accurately the lack of milk in human diets, was central to the discovery of vitamins, but research into vitamin nutrition of cows developed slowly. For many decades bioassays were the only available method for measuring vitamin concentrations, which greatly limited research. The history of vitamin nutrition mirrors that of mineral nutrition. Among the first experiments conducted on vitamin nutrition of cows were those examining the factors affecting vitamin concentrations of milk. This was followed by determining the amount of vitamins needed to prevent deficiency diseases, which evolved into research to determine the amount of vitamins required to promote overall good health. The majority of research was conducted on vitamins A, D, and E because these vitamins have a dietary requirement, and clinical and marginal deficiencies became common as diets for cows changed from pasture and full exposure to the sun to stored forage and limited sun exposure. As researchers learned new functions of fat-soluble vitamins, requirements generally increased over time. Diets generally contain substantial amounts of B vitamins, and rumen bacteria can synthesize large quantities of many B vitamins; hence, research on water-soluble vitamins lagged behind. We now know that supplementation of specific water-soluble vitamins can enhance cow health and increase milk production in certain situations. Additional research is needed to define specific requirements for many water-soluble vitamins. Both mineral and vitamin research is hampered by the lack of sensitive biomarkers of status, but advanced molecular techniques may provide measures that respond to altered supply of minerals and vitamins and that are related to health or productive responses of the cow. The overall importance of proper mineral and vitamin nutrition is known,...

Metabolic Hydrogen Flows in Rumen Fermentation: Principles and Possibilities of Interventions

“…It is thus possible that, the same as H 2 , formate concentration has an influence on CH 4 production and the VFA profile. Other than an accumulation of formate as a response to methanogenesis inhibitors in some studies (Ungerfeld et al, 2003;Martinez-Fernandez et al, 2016, 2017, the effects of variables such as outflow rates, pH, or rate of fermentation on formate concentration, have not been investigated to the author's knowledge. Generating information about the relationship between those variables and formate concentration, and how they relate to methanogens growth rate would be important for evaluating the influence of formate on the VFA profile, and integrating formate to a model of [H] flows in rumen fermentation.…”

“…Pathways of [H] flow alternative to H 2 formation can result in the production of other intercellular e − carriers, such as lactate, ethanol, and formate, or final fermentation products such as propionate, all of which also help NADH oxidation (Van Lingen et al, 2016). Formate, succinate or ethanol have been shown to accumulate along with H 2 when methanogenesis was inhibited in vitro (Slyter, 1979;Asanuma et al, 1998;Ungerfeld et al, 2003) and in vivo (Martinez-Fernandez et al, 2016, 2017Melgar et al, 2019), so it is important to understand if the accumulation of those metabolites could potentially inhibit cofactors re-oxidation and fermentation. The effects of lactate, ethanol, formate and propionate on fermentation and digestion are best studied in experiments in which those metabolites are externally added to rumen fermentation as pure compounds.…”

“…Microbial growth produces microbial protein, which is the principal and most economical source of amino acids for ruminants. Rumen microorganisms can also synthesize water-soluble vitamins, which thus do not need to be included in most ruminants diets (Weiss, 2017).…”

A Review of the Extraction and Determination Methods of Thirteen Essential Vitamins to the Human Body: An Update from 2010

“…For people who are at risk of vitamin deficiencies, vitamin supplementation is regarded as an effective treatment (e.g., intake of multivitamin tablets). However, an overdose of vitamins can be toxic in nature [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. In addition, interactions of vitamins and other drugs are often reported [ 21 ].…”

The biochemical indicators of a cow organizm at the prevention of microelementosis

“…Вплив техногенних чинників довкілля, що спричиняють зміни біогеоценозу за взаємодії з природним дефіцитом біогенних мікроелементів, сприяє виникненню та поширенню патології мінерального обміну в сільськогосподарських тварин, зокрема у лактуючих корів (Ljubina, 2011;Doletskyi, 2015;Bel'kevich, 2016;Veremeienko and Savrasykh, 2016;Weiss, 2017).…”