Differences between primiparous and multiparous dairy cows in the inter-relationships between metabolic traits, milk yield and body condition score in the periparturient period

Abstract

During the early postpartum period dairy cows mobilize fat and muscle to support lactation. This is associated with alterations in blood metabolite and hormone profiles which in turn influence milk yield and fertility. This study developed models to determine how metabolic traits, milk yield and body condition score were inter-related at different times in the periparturient period and to compare these relationships in primiparous (PP, n=188) and multiparous (MP, n=312) cows. Data from four previous studies which included information on blood metabolic parameters, parity, milk yield, body condition score and diet were collated into a single dataset. Coefficients of polynomial equations were calculated for each trait between -1 week pre-calving and week +7 postpartum using residual maximum likelihood modelling. The completed dataset was used in a multiple correlation model to determine how the best fit curves were related to each other over time. PP cows had higher concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-I and lower beta-hydroxybutyrate concentrations throughout, higher leptin concentrations pre-partum and both the peak in non-esterified fatty acids and the nadir in urea concentration occurred earlier after calving. These differences were associated with significantly lower milk production. Leptin concentrations fell at calving and were related to body condition score. Insulin was negatively correlated with yield in MP cows only. In MP cows the relationship between insulin-like growth factor-I and yield switched from negative to positive between weeks +4 and +7. Both beta-hydroxybutyrate and urea were positively related to yield in PP cows. In contrast, in MP cows beta-hydroxybutyrate was negatively correlated with yield and urea was strongly related to body condition score but not yield. These results suggest that there are differences in the control of tissue mobilization between PP and MP cows which may promote nutrient partitioning into growth as well as milk during the first lactation.

Trend analysis of plasma insulin level around parturition in relation to parity in Saanen goats1

“…After parturition, plasma NEFA concentrations were higher in multiparous than primiparous goats. A similar result is observed in dairy cows (Wathes et al, 2007). This was possibly due to the fact that in the multiparous group there was a greater number of goats that gave birth to triplets of kids in comparison to the primiparous group.…”

“…Anyway, in primiparous goats, the negative correlation between insulin and NEFA suggests the role of insulin in the reduction of lipomobilization at the beginning of lactation. To justify this latter statement, it is important to consider that (due to the seasonality of the reproductive activity) at the time of first kidding goats are less mature than at the time of the following ones and so they need nutrients also for their own physical and physiological development (Shelton, 1978;Wathes et al, 2007). It is possible to hypothesize, therefore, that the higher levels of plasma insulin observed in primiparous goats compared to the multiparous ones soon after parturition acted as a metabolic strategy to limit both the mobilization of bodily reserves and the capture of nutrients by the lactating mammary gland, thus providing nutrients for whole body growth.…”

Risk factors associated with detailed reproductive phenotypes in dairy and beef cows

“…Greater milk production in older parity cows and the associated greater negative energy balance (Berry et al, 2006) may also be a contributing factor to increase prevalence of embryo/foetal death in these animals. Moreover, the bovine endocrine and immune system age rapidly; Wathes et al (2007) documented reduced levels of circulating IGF-1 and insulin in early lactation multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows compared with early lactation primiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows. Such endocrine differences between parities are also likely to contribute to parity differences in reproductive performance.…”

The effect of polymorphism in gene of insulin-like growth factor-I on the serum periparturient concentration in Holstein dairy cows

“…Different genotypes can alter the endocrine and metabolic profiles of the transition dairy cow under grazing condition [17] . Several studies reported periparturient changes of IGF-I blood concentration in cattle [18,19] . It has been reported significant associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IGF-I and production traits in Holstein-Friesian cattle [20][21][22] .…”

“…Finally, the genomic DNAs were eluted in a volume of 100 毺L supplied elution buffer. The extracted DNA was diluted to a working concentration of [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] ng/毺L, and 2.4 毺L of it was used as a template in PCR.…”