Effects of supplements differing in fatty acid profile to late gestational beef cows on cow performance, calf growth performance, and gene expression

Abstract

Background Maternal nutrition during gestation affects fetal development, which has long-term programming effects on offspring postnatal growth performance. However, limited research is available for fetal programming effects of fatty acid supplementation on beef cattle. With a critical role in protein and lipid metabolism, essential fatty acids can influence the development of muscle and adipose tissue. The experiment investigated the effects of late gestation supplements, either rich in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids (CON) or polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), on cow performance and subsequent calf growth performance as well as gene expression in longissimus muscle (LM) and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Results There was no difference (P ≥ 0.32) in cow body weight (BW) or body condition score from pre-supplementation through weaning. There were treatment × time interactions (P ≤ 0.05) for plasma C18:3 and C20:4 concentrations, in which C18:3 and C20:4 of both CON and PUFA cows were greater at mid-supplementation than those at calving, while CON cows at birth had the intermediate concentrations. Cow plasma C20:0, C20:5, and C22:6 were increased (P ≤ 0.01) in PUFA. At birth, PUFA steers had greater (P = 0.01) plasma C20:5 and lower (P < 0.01) C18:2 and C18:1. No birth BW or milk production differences were detected (P ≥ 0.45), while CON steers had greater (P = 0.05) weaning BW and tended (P = 0.06) to have greater pre-weaning average daily gain compared to PUFA. There were treatment × time interactions (P ≤ 0.02) for MYH7 and C/EBPβ expressions in LM; expression of MYH7 was greatest in CON at birth, while C/EBPβ was greatest in PUFA steers at weaning. There tended (P = 0.06) to be a treatment × time effect for MYF5, in which expression was the greatest in CON steers at birth. Maternal supplementation of PUFA tended (P ≤ 0.10) to decrease MYOG expression in LM and ZFP423 expression in adipose tissue during the pre-weaning stage. Conclusions Late gestation PUFA supplementation decreased pre-weaning growth performance of the subsequent steer progeny compared to CON supplementation, which could have been a result of downregulated expression of myogenic genes during pre-weaning period.