Energy Balance Indicators during the Transition Period and Early Lactation of Purebred Holstein and Simmental Cows and Their Crosses

Abstract

Crossbreeding in dairy cattle has been used to improve functional traits, milk composition, and efficiency of Holstein herds. The objective of the study was to compare indicators of the metabolic energy balance, nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA), glucose, body condition score (BCS) back fat thickness (BFT), as well as milk yield and milk composition of Holstein and Simmental cows, and their crosses from the prepartum period until the 100th day of lactation at the Livestock Center of the Ludwig Maximilians University (Munich, Germany). In total, 164 cows formed five genetic groups according to their theoretic proportion of Holstein and Simmental genes as follows: Holstein (100% Holstein; n = 9), R1-Hol (51–99% Holstein; n = 30), first generation (F1) crossbreds (50% Holstein, 50% Simmental; n = 17), R1-Sim (1–49% Holstein; n = 81) and Simmental (100% Simmental; n = 27). The study took place between April 2018 and August 2019. BCS, BFT blood parameters, such as BHBA, glucose, and NEFA were recorded weekly. A mixed model analysis with fixed effects breed, week (relative to calving), the interaction of breed and week, parity, calving year, calving season, milking season, and the repeated measure effect of cow was used. BCS increased with the Simmental proportion. All genetic groups lost BCS and BFT after calving. Simmental cows showed lower NEFA values. BHBA and glucose did not differ among genetic groups, but they differed depending on the week relative to calving. Simmental and R1-Sim cows showed a smaller effect than the other genetic groups regarding changes in body weight, BCS, or back fat thickness after a period of a negative energy balance after calving. There was no significant difference for milk yield among genetic groups, although Simmental cows showed a lower milk yield after the third week after calving. Generally, Simmental and R1-Simmental cows seemed to deal better with a negative energy balance after calving than purebred Holstein and the other crossbred lines. Based on a positive heterosis effect of 10.06% for energy corrected milk (ECM), the F1, however, was the most efficient crossbred line.

Comparison of metabolic, oxidative and inflammatory status of Simmental × Holstein crossbred with parental breeds during the peripartal and early lactation periods

“…Differently from Knob et al . (2021), who found glucose levels not significantly different among Holstein, Simmental and their crosses, in our study the CR group showed a lower average value. At the time of calving we found a particular increase of glucose in HO with respect to the other breeds.…”

“…Recently, Knob et al . (2021) compared the crossbred generations following the F1 in a two-breed rotational system with the parental dairy cattle breeds Holstein and Simmental. They showed that Simmental cows had lower NEFA values while BHBA and glucose did not differ among genetic groups.…”

“…In order to meet the energy demand for lactation, in the first period after parturition, production of glucose increases through the stimulation of hepatic gluconeogenesis but, despite this mechanism, the greater glucose demand after parturition for milk production leads to a decrease in plasma concentrations, particularly in high yielding cows (Weber et al ., 2013). In our study the trend of glucose reflected the data reported in literature (Trevisi et al ., 2012; Knob et al ., 2021) showing an increase just before calving and a decrease in the first weeks of lactation. Differently from Knob et al .…”

“…Recently, Knob et al . (2021) published a study on a combination of metabolic traits and some body condition traits with early performance characteristics during the transition period in a crisscross breeding program of Holstein and Simmental. The research showed that after calving, Simmental and R1-Simmental cows were able to deal with a negative energy balance to a better extent than purebred Holstein and the other crossbred lines.…”

Evaluation of Milk Yield and Reproductive Performance of Pure Holstein and Its F1 Crossbreds with Montbeliarde in Egypt

“…Several previous studies have been conducted to compare the performance of pure Holstein with their first generation (F1) crosses, including HO × Simmental cows (Knob et al, 2020;Knob et al, 2021), HO ×Viking Red cattle (Hazel et al, 2017a), HO × Nordic Red cattle (Clasen et al, 2018), HO × Jersey cows (Prendiville et al, 2010), and HO × Brown Swiss (Blöttner et al, 2011;El-Tarabany et al, 2016). These studies had shown positive outcomes of crossbred cows compared with pure HO cows especially for fertility, health, and survival traits with the possibility to increase the rate of genetic gain for these economically valuable traits (Shonka-Martin et al, 2019;Clasen et al, 2021).…”