Regulation of Nutritional Metabolism in Transition Dairy Cows: Energy Homeostasis and Health in Response to Post-Ruminal Choline and Methionine

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of rumen-protected methionine (RPM) and rumen-protected choline (RPC) on energy balance, postpartum lactation performance, antioxidant capacity and immune response in transition dairy cows. Forty-eight multiparous transition cows were matched and divided into four groups: control, 15 g/d RPC, 15 g/d RPM or 15 g/d RPC + 15 g/d RPM. Diet samples were collected daily before feeding, and blood samples were collected weekly from the jugular vein before morning feeding from 21 days prepartum to 21 days postpartum. Postpartum dry matter intake (DMI) was increased by both additives (P < 0.05), and energy balance values in supplemented cows were improved after parturition (P < 0.05). Both RPC and RPM decreased the plasma concentrations of non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA), total cholesterol (TC) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (P < 0.05), but increased the plasma levels of glucose, very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) and apolipoprotein B100 (ApoB 100, P < 0.05). The supplements improved milk production (P < 0.05), and increased (P < 0.05) or tended to increase (0.05 < P < 0.10) the contents of milk fat and protein. The post-ruminal choline and methionine elevated the blood antioxidant status, as indicated by total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity and the vitamin E concentration (P < 0.05), and reduced the plasma malondialdehyde (MDA) level (P < 0.05). Furthermore, RPM and RPC elevated the plasma interleukin 2 (IL-2) concentration and the CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio in peripheral blood (P < 0.05). Alternatively, the levels of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and IL-6 were decreased by RPM and RPC (P < 0.05). Overall, the regulatory responses of RPC and RPM were highly correlated with time and were more effective in the postpartum cows. The results demonstrated that dietary supplementation with RPC and RPM promoted energy balance by increasing postpartal DMI and regulating hepatic lipid metabolism, improved postpartum lactation performance and enhanced antioxidant capacity and immune function of transition dairy cows.

Effects of rumen‐protected methionine on milk production in early lactation dairy cattle fed with a diet containing 14.5% crude protein

“…Our current results for DMI and milk production (Table ) were not consistent with previous findings: in other studies, DMI (Schingoethe et al., ; Sun et al., ), milk yield (Batistel et al., ), 4% fat‐corrected milk (Sun et al., ), or yield or percentage of milk protein (Patton, ) changed when RPMet was supplemented. According to AminoCow, using the data from the production trial (DMI, milk yield, milk content of protein and fat), only the adequacies of Lys and Met were less than 110%.…”

“…However, Sun et al. () reported that RPMet supplementation at 15 g/day decreased the same parameters. Sun et al.…”

“…RPMet supplementation increases milk yield through increased voluntary dry matter intake (DMI) and enhanced liver function (Batistel et al., ). RPMet improves postpartum lactation performance and enhances immune function in transition dairy cows (Sun et al., ).…”

Effect of herbal choline and rumen-protected methionine on lamb performance and blood metabolites

“…It has been suggested that the response to RPM and RPC may be positive in dairy cattle because of their high methylation requirements (Brusemeister & Sudekum, 2006), but their effects on production have not been consistent (Davidson et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2016;Zhou et al, 2016). In this experiment, the lack of response in lamb growth to RPM may have been owing to the low Lys content in the basal diet (Table 1).…”

“…Maskaľová et al (2014) suggest the importance of evaluating RPM and choline in ruminants and experiments in various physiological statuses. Previous experiments with dairy cows showed that dietary supplementation with RPM and RPC alleviated negative energy balance, thereby improving feed intake and modulating hepatic lipid metabolism (Sun et al, 2016). Another study showed that the combination of RPM and RPC did not improve milk production, but it did result in a moderate interaction in the energy balance, reducing the megacalories (Mcal) lost per day (Zhou et al, 2016).…”