A multicomponent herbal feed additive improves somatic cell counts in dairy cows ‐ a two stage, multicentre, placebo‐controlled long‐term on‐farm trial

Abstract

In contrast to natural and historical diets of wild and domesticated ruminants, the diversity of plant species is limited in diets of modern dairy cows. Are “production diseases” linked to this? We conducted a trial to test the effects of a multicomponent herbal feed additive (HFA) on health, performance and fertility traits. A dose‐finding study (DF) with 62 cows on 11 commercial farms compared a low (50 g) and a high (100 g) dose of HFA (HFA‐50, HFA‐100) with a placebo (PL). In a subsequent field trial (FT) with 280 cows on 30 commercial farms, HFA‐100 was compared to PL. Cows were randomly assigned to HFA and PL groups and received HFA or PL individually daily from 14 days pre‐ to 300 days post‐calving. Data were analysed with mixed effects models. No differences between HFA and PL were found regarding performance, body condition score and overall culling rates. A tendency towards lower milk urea for HFA‐100 compared to PL (p = .06) was found in DF. HFA significantly reduced elevated milk acetone observations (≥10 mg/L) in the first 10 lactation weeks (HFA‐100: 4%; HFA‐50: 4%; PL: 12%) in DF. HFA‐50 significantly reduced lameness incidence (HFA‐100: 11%; HFA‐50: 2%; PL: 14%) in DF. Calving intervals were 15 days shorter in HFA compared to PL in both trials, which could be confirmed by tendency (p = .07) in FT. In both trials, the proportion of test days with elevated somatic cell score (≥3.0) was significantly lower in HFA compared to PL (DF: HFA‐100: 40%, HFA‐50: 45% and PL: 55%; FT: HFA‐100: 38% and PL: 55%) which is also reflected by tendency (p = .08) in lower culling rates due to udder diseases in FT. HFA showed no negative impact on any of the measured parameters. The effects of HFA indicate a potential of phytochemically rich and diverse feed additives for dairy cows' nutrition and physiology.

Supplementation with antioxidants and phenolic compounds in ruminant feeding and its effect on dairy products: a systematic review

“…Some studies also reported the progeny of the animals such as primiparous (Safari et al ., 2018; Li et al ., 2021) and multiparous (Hausmann et al ., 2018; Safari et al ., 2018; Li et al ., 2021; Wang et al ., 2021) and included the period of lactation (Ianni et al ., 2019, 2021; Bonanno et al ., 2019b; Mapato et al ., 2021; Menci et al ., 2021) or specified mid-lactation (Scuderi et al ., 2019; Simitzis et al ., 2019). Design of the studies included randomized (Cais-Sokolińska et al ., 2015; Hausmann et al ., 2018; Safari et al ., 2018; Ianni et al ., 2019; Bonanno et al ., 2019a; Walkenhorst et al ., 2020; Li et al ., 2021; Wang et al ., 2021), stratified (Scuderi et al ., 2019; Walkenhorst et al ., 2020), allocated (Delgadillo-Puga et al ., 2019; Simitzis et al ., 2019) and 4 × 4 Latin square design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement (Mapato et al ., 2021). Dairy products evaluated in different studies included kefir (Cais-Sokolińska et al ., 2015), milk (all other papers) and, additionally, cheese (Ianni et al ., 2019; Bonanno et al ., 2019a, 2019b; Menci et al ., 2021).…”

The effect of protein supplement from skin wastes on hematological, biochemical metabolic indices and dairy productivity of highly yielding cows

“…Excess protein, which is not converted into milk as a result of metabolism, is converted into ammonia during catabolism, which in turn is converted into urea. Thus, an excess of urea appears as a significant increase in its content in blood and milk (Broderick and Reynal, 2009;Guliński et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2019;Walkenhorst et al, 2020). Slight increase of urea in the blood of animals of the experimental groups within the acceptable values with the physiological norm of the remaining biochemical parameters may indicate a good level of absorption of dietary protein (Amanlou, 2017).…”

Economic impact of polyherbal mixtures containing choline, lysine and methionine on milk production and health of dairy cows

“…The response observed with polyherbal mixtures with choline could be attributed to the nutrient functions that have been demonstrated to improve the immune-metabolic status in dairy cows (Vailati-Riboni et al, 2017) as well as in the antioxidant capacity (Sun et al, 2016) that has allowed for a reduction in metabolic problems and overall morbidity (Lima et al, 2012). The residual effect of BC40 on milk production could be explained by the antioxidant and immunostimulants properties of herbal additives on the health of the mammary gland (Walkenhorst et al, 2020), by reducing cell death in the milk-secretory epithelium and the long-term negative effects on the lactation in cows with mastitis (Capuco et al, 2003). This coincides with Gutiérrez et al (2019) who reporting lower incidence of mastitis and higher milk production in cows supplemented with herbal choline in which Mendoza et al (2020) found 4-vinylguaiacol and undecane in the volatile compounds in the polyherbal mixture; the first one has antioxidant properties (Esatbeyoglu et al 2015) and the second antiinflammatories activity (Fa-Liang et al 2017).…”