Effect of Bypass Fat and Minerals Supplementation during Transitional Period on Plasma Levels of Thyroid Hormones, Metabolites and Postpartum Fertility in Crossbred Cows

Abstract

Twenty healthy advanced pregnant crossbred (HF x K) cows of 2-4 parity were included in the study from 2 weeks prepartum to 8 weeks postpartum. They were equally divided in to control (routine farm feeding-RFF) and treatment (RFF plus area specific multi-minerals @ 50 g/h/d and bypass fat @ 100-200 g/h/d) groups to evaluate the effect of bypass fat and minerals supplementation on plasma metabolites and hormonal profile and postpartum fertility. The plasma levels of T3 increased (P less tha 0.01) on the day of calving and then abruptly dropped till day 14 postpartum as compared to levels at other periods, while T4 decreased (P less than 0.05) consistently throughout the study period particularly in control group. However, the influence of nutritional supplementation was found to be non-significant on both these hormones. The blood glucose levels were at peak concurrent to highest plasma cortisol on the day of calving. The cows under supplemented group had significantly (p less than 0.01) higher mean blood glucose (64.51±3.10 vs 59.13±3.06 mg/dl) and cortisol (16.19±2.51vs 11.23±1.34 ng/ml)than the control cows. The mean plasma levels of NEFA increased from day 14 prepartum to the highest (p less than 0.01) on the day of calving and thereafter reduced in postpartum days in both the groups with significantly higher mean value in supplemented than control group (0.58±0.09 vs 0.47±0.07 mmol/l). The prepartum plasma BHBA also increased as parturition approached, continued to increase further in the early postpartum period to reach a peak (1.21±0.09 and 0.87±0.04 mmol/l for control and treatment group) (p less than 0.01) on day 14, and thereafter decreased. In general, the plasma NEFA, BHBA, cortisol and glucose levels were found to be higher in the cows of nutrient supplemented group which had lesser time intervals for expressing first postpartum estrus and service period with better pregnancy rate. Thus the nutrient supplementation during transition period was beneficial in maintaining energy status of the cows and improved reproductive performance postpartum.

Effects of bypass fat on postpartum reproductive performance in dairy cattle

“…The mean serum phosphorus levels during peripartum period in the control and treatment group cows are presented in table 6.In the present study, mean serum phosphorus level was nonsignificantly different between the groups and within both the groups at all stages studied is corroborating with the reports of Gowda et al (2014) and Sahoo et al (2016).The trend of mean plasma level of inorganic phosphorus obtained from prepartum to calving then up to day 30 postpartum period are in partial agreement with the findings of Dhami et al, (2005), Gowda, (2014 and Theodore et al, (2017).…”

“…In the present study, the overall group wise mean blood glucose concentration was found significantly higher (P<0.05) in treatment group than control group (59.37±0.48 vs. 57.07±0.75 mg/dl). The results are in agreement with the findings of Waghmare et al (2016) and Theodore et al (2017), which can be attributed to the effect of bypass fat supplementation in the diet of treatment group. The other possible reason could be the glycolysis of sugar which might have inhibited by supplementation of bypass fat in order to improve their energy levels (Goff et al, 1996;Mc Namara and Valdez, 2005, Zhang et al, 2011and Waghmare et al, 2016.…”

“…The other possible reason could be the glycolysis of sugar which might have inhibited by supplementation of bypass fat in order to improve their energy levels (Goff et al, 1996;Mc Namara and Valdez, 2005, Zhang et al, 2011and Waghmare et al, 2016. The significantly higher mean blood glucose concentration obtained on the day of parturition in the present study corroborated with the observations of Sato (1978), Ghosh et al (1991), Hadiya (2006), Garverick et al (2013), Yadav et al (2015) and Theodore et al (2017) as they also noted the highest blood glucose concentration at parturition. The researchers suggested that in response to physiological stimuli, glucocorticoid releases at calving and causes rise in blood glucose level due to gluconeogenesis.…”

“…Stage variations in mean glucose level within groups are in partial agreement withYadav et al (2015) andTheodore et al (2017).…”

Combating anestrous problem in crossbred cattle by nutritional interventions in field conditions of Odisha

“…In case of T2 group, 4 number of estrous exhibiting animals got conceived after AI out of 5. This result is in agreement with Theodore et al (2017), who reported improved postpartum reproductive efficiency of crossbred cows supplemented with multi mineral mixture (50g/head/day) and bypass fat (100-200 gm/head/day) during the transition period. Negative energy balance, which might cause delay in ovulation by inhibiting LH surge (Butler, 2000) has been avoided by bypass fat supplementation.…”