Reproductive and Metabolic Responses of Early‐lactating Dairy Cows Fed Different Dietary Protein Sources

Abstract

Optimal reproduction is very closely tied with optimal nutrition, and early-lactation diets in cows are critical to successful reproduction and monitoring is important. To evaluate the effects of different dietary protein sources on metabolic parameters and reproductive activity, a total of 36 Italian Friesian early-lactating dairy cows were assigned for 16 weeks to three dietary treatments as follow: the control diet contained soya bean meal (SBM) as the main protein source, whereas the experimental diets contained faba bean (FB) or pea seeds (PS) as alternative protein sources. Diets were formulated to be isocaloric and isonitrogenous. Cow blood samples were collected, and plasma were analysed for metabolites, biological enzymes, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHBA) and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA). Feeding alternative protein sources had no effects on most metabolic blood profile, except for blood cholesterol, triglycerides and urea. Results from reproductive parameters indicated that cows fed FB diet had a lower insemination index, but a shorter calving to conception period and an improved conception rate and artificial insemination outcome, when compared to cows fed SBM or PS diets. It can be concluded that replacing conventional dietary SBM with alternative protein sources, especially FB, resulted in improved reproductive performances and metabolic parameters in early-lactating dairy cows.

Diet’s impact dictated by synonymous mitochondrial SNP interacting with nucleotype

“…Offspring quality and quantity will depend on fertility, fecundity, and development (viability) of those offspring, each of which are influenced by diet. Equivalent changes in these traits can be elicited in distinct taxa by equivalent dietary changes: for example, in numerous studies of insects and mammals, amino acid nutrition has proven consistently important for fertility, fecundity and offspring development (Bong et al, 2014; Crean and Senior, 2019; Dong et al, 2016; Fanson et al, 2012; Grandison et al, 2009; Jensen et al, 2015; Lee et al, 2008; Leitão-Gonçalves et al, 2017; Liang and Zhang, 2006; Ma et al, 2020; Maklakov et al, 2008; McCracken et al, 2020; Mirth et al, 2018; Skorupa et al, 2008; Solon-Biet et al, 2015; Svajgr et al, 1972; Tufarelli et al, 2015; Winship et al, 2018; Wong et al, 2014a; Zanco et al, 2020); whereas high-lipid or high-sugar diets are obesogenic (Dobson et al, 2019; Hariri and Thibault, 2010; Jang et al, 2018; Rivera et al, 2015; Saud et al, 2015; Wong et al, 2014b; Woodcock et al, 2015; Zhao et al, 2020). However, importantly, reproduction is not only regulated by the individual’s current diet: large nutritional fluctuations can induce enduring physiological and molecular changes, which can transmit across generations, influencing quality of offspring and even grand-offspring (Barker and Osmond, 1986; Barker and Thornburg, 2013; Deas et al, 2019; Duque-Guimarães and Ozanne, 2017; Holland et al, 2016; Li et al, 2018; Liang and Zhang, 2006; Öst et al, 2014; Rivera et al, 2015; Stefana et al, 2017; Wei et al, 2014; Winship et al, 2018).…”