A canonical discriminant analysis to study the association between milk fatty acids of ruminal origin and milk fat depression in dairy cows

Abstract

Although milk fat depression (MFD) has been observed and described since the beginning of the last century, all the molecular and biochemical mechanisms involved are still not completely understood. Some fatty acids (FA) originating during rumen biohydrogenation have been proposed as causative elements of MFD. However, contradictory results were obtained when studying the effect of single FA on MFD. An alternative could be the simultaneous evaluation of the effect of many FA using a multivariate approach. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between individual milk FA of ruminal origin and MFD using canonical discriminant analysis, a multivariate technique able to distinguish 2 or more groups on the basis of a pool of variables. In a commercial dairy herd, a diet containing 26% starch on a DM basis induced an unintentional MFD syndrome in 14 cows out of 40. Milk yielded by these 14 animals showed a fat content lower than 50% of the ordinary value, whereas milk production and protein content were normal. The remaining 26 cows secreted typical milk fat content and therefore were considered the control group, even though they ate the same diet. The stepwise discriminant analysis selected 14 milk FA of ruminal origin most able to distinguish the 2 groups. This restricted pool of FA was used, as variables, in a run of the canonical discriminant analysis that was able to significantly discriminate between the 2 groups. Out of the 14 FA, 5 conjugated linoleic acid isomers (C18:2 trans-10,trans-12, C18:2 trans-8,trans-10, C18:2 trans-11,cis-13, C18:2 cis-9,cis-11, C18:2 cis-10,cis-12) and C15:0 iso were more related to the control group, whereas C18:2 trans-10,cis-12, C16:1 trans-6-7, C16:1 trans-9, C18:1 trans-6-8, C18:1 trans-9, C18:1 trans-10, C18:1 cis-11, and C18:3n-3 were positively associated with the MFD group, allowing a complete discrimination. On the basis of these results, we can conclude that (1) the shift of ruminal biohydrogenation from C18:1 trans-11 to C18:1 trans-10 seemed to be strongly associated with MFD; (2) at the same time, other C18:1 trans isomers showed a similar association; (3) on the contrary, conjugated linoleic acid isomers other than C18:2 trans-10,cis-12 seemed to be associated with a normal fat secretion. Results confirmed that MFD is the consequence of a combined effect of the outflow of many ruminal FA, which collectively affect mammary fat synthesis. Because the animals of the 2 groups were fed the same diet, these results suggested that factors other than diet are involved in the MFD syndrome. Feeding behavior (i.e., ability to select dietary ingredients in a total mixed ration), rumen environment and the composition of ruminal bacteria are additional factors able to modify the products of rumen biohydrogenation. Results of the present work confirmed that the multivariate approach can be a useful tool to evaluate a metabolic pathway that involves several parameters, providing interesting suggestions about the role of some FA involved in MFD. However, results about ...

Role of Fatty Acids in Milk Fat and the Influence of Selected Factors on Their Variability—A Review

“…Diet composition is the main factor that can cause shifts in the microbial diversity of the rumen [ 40 ] with subsequent changes in milk FAs. This is because individual categories of bacteria have different lipid metabolism and thus produce higher proportions of specific FAs, such as odd-chain FAs (liquid phase bacteria), C18:1 trans isomers (bacteria firmly attached to feed particles), or branched-chain FAs (bacteria loosely attached to feed particles) [ 41 ]. Recent research has demonstrated that a shift in rumen microbiota followed by changes to the milk FA profile can occur in response to high-starch diets [ 42 ], oil supplementation [ 43 ], changes in forage:concentrate ratio [ 44 ], or a switch from total mixed ration (TMR) to pasture [ 45 ], as also documented in Table 1 comparing pasture-based and silage-based feeding systems.…”

High rumen degradable starch decreased goat milk fat via trans-10, cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid-mediated downregulation of lipogenesis genes, particularly, INSIG1

“…Studies have shown that the occurrence of MFD is closely related to the intermediates of unsaturated fatty acid biohydrogenation in the rumen, including trans-10, cis-12 conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), cis-10, trans-12 CLA, trans-9, cis-11 CLA, trans-10 C18:1, etc. [9][10][11]. MFD-related intermediates, such as increased trans-10, cis-12 CLA, could inhibit mammary uptake and de novo synthesis of fatty acids, consequently decreasing milk fat production [12,13].…”

The use of multidimensional methods of analysis of the intra-breed variability of fat content in milk of dairy cattle

“…ЛДА виявився ефективним інструментом для визначення головних відмінностей між коровами м'ясних та молочних порід із нормальним отеленням та тварин, які мали проблеми під час отелення (дистоція), що дало змогу прогнозування виникнення можливих ускладнень на підставі низки ознак корови (Morrison et al, 1985;Basarab et al, 1993;Zaborski et al, 2018). Використовується ЛДА й для визначення фальсифікації молока (Conte et al, 2018) чи м'яса (Boyaci et al, 2014).…”