Relationship between milk urea, blood plasma urea and body condition score in primiparous browsing goats with different milk yield level

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among milk urea, blood plasma urea, milk yield and body condition score (BCS) in primiparous goats fed at pasture. Ninety goats of Sarda breed were used and, on the basis of their yield level, divided in three groups of 30 animals each, low (LY), intermediate (IY) and high milk yield (HY). Daily milk yield, milk protein content, milk urea, plasma total protein and albumin, plasma urea and BCS were measured at monthly intervals from 45 days in milking (45 DIM) to 165 DIM. Milk yield level affected protein concentration of milk and plasma, whereas albumin showed no variation. Plasma and milk urea showed a high correlation (P<0.001) despite of the yield level; plasma urea was always lower than milk urea. BCS decreased on 75 DIM and again after 135 DIM, and it was not affected by the milk yield level. Because milk urea and plasma urea were closely correlated and not influenced by the yield level, the study pointed out that measurement of milk urea could be utilized to evaluate urea metabolism also for browsing goats.

The effect of cold acidified milk replacer on productive performance of suckling kids reared in an extensive farming system

“…Even if statistical differences between the treatments were recorded, blood protein levels were similar to those reported for naturally fed Red Syrian kids by Celi et al (2008) and also creatinine levels were similar to those found in kids of Sicilian breeds (Chiofalo et al, 2004; (Vazzana et al, 2013). Mbassa and Poulsen (1993) reported that urea blood levels are influenced by age with the highest values in young goats, but in the present study urea concentration was lower than that reported for primiparous lactating goats of Sarda breed reared with extensive methods (Pazzola et al, 2011b). Urea levels of Sarda kids, regardless of the feeding treatments, are similar to those recorded by Celi et al (2008) in Red Syrian kids.…”

“…This is due to the good adaptability of the goat, which can exploit pastures not easily accessible to other livestock species, and provide meat, milk and dairy 2009b) and milk production, which is about 20% of the entire amount of goat milk produced in Italy (Pazzola et al, 2011b). Milk from Sarda goats is characterized by a good cheese-making aptitude (Pazzola et al, 2012) which mainly depends on the high protein and fat contents and on the prevalence of "strong" casein genotypes Pazzola et al, 2014).…”

Urea concentration in goat milk: importance of determination and factors of variability

“…The higher urea concentration in the blood, the higher amount of urea will be excreted into urine and milk. Because of the high correlation between urea values in blood and milk, and due to easier availability and sample preparation, smaller daily variations and economic cost-effectiveness of the analysis, the method of determining urea concentration in milk has an advantage over its determination in the blood (Chládek and Máchal, 2004;Pazzola et al, 2011).…”

Urea and other milk indicators in the early period of goat lactation in the farm’s conditions of the Ukrainian steppe zone

“…Отож, такі погодні умови як інтенсивність сонячної радіації, сила вітру, температура повітря і вологість повинні враховуватися для оцінювання впливу навколишнього середовища на молочну продуктивність корів. (Mylostyvyi & Chernenko, 2019).…”