Effects of dietary energy allowance and decline in dry matter intake during the dry period on responses to glucose and insulin in transition dairy cows

Abstract

We assessed whether high energy intake during the early dry period [144% of metabolizable energy (ME) requirements/d] followed by a gradual restriction of energy intake in the close-up dry period (119% of ME/d; HEI) impaired whole-body insulin sensitivity compared with a controlled energy intake (100% of ME/d; CEI) throughout the 6-wk dry period. Multiparous Ayrshire dairy cows (n = 16) were blocked by body weight, body condition score, and expected date of parturition and were used in a randomized complete block design until 10 d after parturition. Cows were fed either HEI or CEI diets based on grass silage during the first 3 wk of the dry period and grass silage supplemented with a commercial concentrate (30% of ME intake) during the final 3 wk of gestation. After calving, all cows were fed grass silage ad libitum and an increasing amount of commercial concentrate (maximum 9 kg at d 10 postpartum). Intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT) and intravenous insulin challenges were performed -10 ± 5 d (n = 15) and +10 ± 1 d (n = 14) relative to parturition. Following glucose injection, we did not find any treatment effects on glucose and insulin responses. The prepartal nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) response of the HEI group was blunted, basal NEFA and the decrement of NEFA were smaller, and the area under the response curve (AUC) of NEFA was less negative in HEI cows than in CEI cows. The NEFA response reversed after parturition; the NEFA AUC of the HEI group was more negative than that of the CEI group. We did not find similar responses after insulin injection. Across the treatments, NEFA AUC correlated strongly with the basal NEFA concentration during the IVGTT pre- and postpartum. Calculated and model-based indices characterizing the overall glucose tolerance and β-cell function and the insulin sensitivity were higher after parturition than during the dry period. Consistent with the lower basal insulin, the acute insulin release after the glucose infusion was smaller in postpartal IVGTT than in prepartal IVGTT. The results suggest that whole-body insulin sensitivity of the cows increased after parturition. However, the role of peripheral insulin sensitivity in the regulation of glucose partitioning seems to be minor relative to the major change in insulin secretion and clearance during the periparturient period.

Digestive parameters during gestation of Holstein heifers

“…When comparing dry matter intake (kg/day) at three days of gestation evaluated, we observed an increase of approximately 15.5% between 145 and 200 days of gestation (1.3 kg/day). This might be explained by the fact that heifers are still growing (increasing body measurements) and had an average daily gain around 1.0 kg which is not the case of mature cows, which have a reduction in dry matter intake during pregnancy [12, 24, 25]. Similarly, nutrient intake also showed the same pattern as dry matter in this study.…”

Relationship between insulin, glucose, non-esterified fatty acid and indices of insulin resistance in obese cows during the dry period and early lactation

“…The RQUICKI index is an excellent indicator of the antilipolytic effect of insulin (Perseghin et al 2001). Models examining high energy intake during the DP have demonstrated a decrease in the index of insulin sensitivity and an increase in insulin values in overfed/overconditioned cows compared to normally-fed cows, and no differences were found in the postpartum insulin sensitivity (or that it was even enhanced) (Rukkwamsuk et al 1998;Locher et al 2015;Salin et al 2017). The RQUICKI index can only be used for the assessment of insulin resistance in cows with the same metabolic status (Schoenberg and Overton 2011).…”

Prepartal high-energy feeding with grass silage-based diets does not disturb the hepatic adaptation of dairy cows during the periparturient period

“…In the ad libitum-fed HE group, the actual average energy intake was 144% of the energy requirement of pregnant dairy cow during the first 3 wk of experimental feeding. During the last 3 wk before the predicted parturition, the energy allowance of the HE group decreased by 5% on alternate days by gradually restricting DMI as described in more detail by Salin et al (2017). The average ME was 99 MJ/d in the CON group and 141 MJ/d in the HE group from wk 6 to 4 prepartum, and 109 MJ/d in the CON group and 128 MJ/d in the HE group from wk 3 to 1 prepartum.…”

“…The selection of samples was random with respect to pairs to represent the design of the whole study. Intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT) were performed on the cows 10 ± 5 d before the actual parturition and 10 ± 1 d postpartum, and the results have been published by Salin et al (2017). The basal NEFA concentrations at 10 ± 5 d before the parturition and 10 ± 1 d postpartum were calculated by averaging the measurements on the blood samples collected 15 and 5 min before the IVGTT (Salin et al, 2017).…”

“…Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, Canada; Xia et al, 2015). Spearman correlation analyses were performed between hepatic lipid concentrations, and the relative expression levels of selected hepatic genes obtained from the microarray analysis or the previous quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses (Selim et al, 2014) and parameters from IVGTT (Salin et al, 2017) using PROC CORR procedure.…”