Effects on milk urea concentration, urine output, and drinking water intake from incremental doses of potassium bicarbonate fed to mid-lactation dairy cows

Abstract

Large variation exists in the potassium content of dairy cow feeds and also within a feed type due to soil type and fertilization. Increased ration K concentration causes a subsequent increase in urinary volume and could be expected to also lower milk urea concentration. Six multiparous mid-lactation Swedish Red dairy cows, all fitted with rumen cannulas, were subjected to 3 different levels of K intake in a Latin square experiment with three 2-wk periods to evaluate the effects on concentrations of milk urea and rumen ammonia, urinary output, and drinking water intake. The treatments were achieved by K supplementation on top of a low-K basal ration fed at individual allowances fixed throughout the experiment. The basal ration, consumed at 20.2 kg of dry matter (DM)/d, provided 165 g of crude protein/kg of DM and consisted of grass silage, concentrates, and urea in the proportions 39.3:60.0:0.7 on a DM basis. Potassium bicarbonate supplementation was 0, 616, and 1,142 g/d, respectively, to give total ration K concentrations that were low (LO; 12 g/kg of DM), medium (MED; 23 g/kg of DM), or high (HI; 32 g/kg of DM). Production and composition of milk was not affected by treatment. A linear effect on milk urea concentration was detected, being 4.48, 4.18, and 3.77 mM for LO, MED, and HI, respectively, and a linear tendency for rumen ammonia concentration with 6.65, 6.51, and 5.84 mg of NH₃-N/dL for LO, MED, and HI, respectively. Milk urea concentration peaked about 3h after the rumen ammonia peak from the morning feeding, at a level 1.3mM over the baseline. Urinary urea excretion declined linearly (105, 103, and 98 g of urea-N/d for LO, MED, and HI, respectively). Linear increases occurred in urinary output (0.058 ± 0.001 kg of urine/g of K intake; no intercept; coefficient of determination=0.997) and drinking water intake (65.9 ± 2.02 + 0.069 ± 0.004 kg of water/g of K intake; coefficient of determination=0.95). Urinary K concentration leveled off at 12.4 g/L. Urinary creatinine excretion was not affected by K addition, but allantoin excretion increased linearly by 27% from LO to HI, suggesting increased rumen microbial growth. Rumen pH, acetate proportion of total volatile fatty acids, and digestibility of DM, organic matter, and neutral detergent fiber increased linearly with increasing potassium intake. We concluded that increased ration K concentration lowers milk urea concentration with a magnitude significant for the interpretation of milk urea values, but other sources of variation, such as sampling time relative to feeding, may be even more important.

Invited review: Nitrogen in ruminant nutrition: A review of measurement techniques

“…Spek et al (2013b) used this method and found that with high compared with low dietary NaCl levels, plasma urea N concentration decreased, whereas the fraction of total urea entry rate that returned to the GIT was unaffected. The decline in plasma (and milk) urea N concentration due to the increased urine production must be expected to occur with any Na or K salt (Bannink et al, 1999;Eriksson and Rustas, 2014). In line with Reynolds and Huntington (1988), Spek et al (2013b) observed that the fraction of total urea entry rate that returned to the GIT was negatively related to dietary protein content.…”

Validating and optimizing spot sampling of urine to estimate urine output with creatinine as a marker in dairy cows

“…However, the experimental diets did not affect (P ≥ 0.33) DMI, milk yield, and milk composition. Inclusion of alfalfa silage replacing corn silage generally increases urine outputs due to increases in dietary K content (Weiss et al, 2009;Eriksson and Rustas, 2014). Because dietary K is known to increase urine output, additional K was included in the AS-K diet for the objectives of the current study.…”

Short communication: Variation in the composition and properties of Swedish raw milk for ultra-high-temperature processing

“…Citrate content was analyzed by HPLC according to the method described by Andersson and Hedlund (1983). Urea was determined using the AutoAnalyzer III procedure (SEAL Analytical GmbH, Norderstedt, Germany) according to Eriksson and Rustas (2014). Calcium, potassium, sodium, and magnesium were analyzed as described in ISO 8070 (ISO/IDF, 2007) using atomic absorption spectrometry (AAnalyst 100, Perkin Elmer, Waltham, MA).…”