Maternal rumen-protected methionine supplementation alters dairy calf development, postnatal growth, plasma biomarkers, and liver one-carbon metabolism
type: CreativeWork
description: Many factors influence fetal growth and development throughout pregnancy. During this critical time maternal nutrition is one of the most important factors that can affect offspring health and performance. Methionine, besides being the first limiting amino, is an important precursor of antioxidants and methyl donor. Therefore, our objectives were to investigate if increasing methionine (Met) supply during late-pregnancy affects developmental, metabolic, and immune parameters of the calf at birth and during the neonatal period. Calves born to Holstein cows individually-fed a basal control [CON; 1.47 Mcal/kg dry matter (DM) and 15.3% crude protein] diet with no added Met or CON plus rumen-protected Met (MET; Mepron® at 0.09% of diet DM) during the last 28 ± 2 d of pregnancy were used. A total of 39 calves were in CON and 42 in MET. At birth, calves were randomly allocated considering dam treatment and colostrum as follows: 1) calves from CON cows and colostrum from CON cows (n = 21); 2) calves from CON cows and colostrum from MET cows (n = 18); 3) calves from MET cows and colostrum from MET cows (n = 22); and 4) calves from MET cows and colostrum from CON cows (n = 20). Liver biopsies were harvested at 4, 14, 28, and 50 d of age and used for metabolomics via GS-MS and activity of hepatic 1-carbon metabolism enzymes. Liver samples at day 4 were used for RNA sequencing, protein expression, and global DNA methylation. Blood for biomarker analyses and innate immune function assays was harvested at birth (before colostrum feeding), 7, 21, 42 and 50 d of age. Whole blood was challenged with enteropathogenic bacteria (E. coli 0118:H8), and phagocytosis and oxidative burst of neutrophils and monocytes quantified by flow cytometry. Despite greater daily DM intake pre-partum in cows fed MET (15.7 vs. 14.4  0.12 kg/d, P < 0.05), colostrum quality and quantity were not affected by maternal diet. At birth, MET calves had greater (P ≤ 0.05) body weight (BW, 44.1 vs. 42.1 ± 0.70 kg…
abstract: Many factors influence fetal growth and development throughout pregnancy. During this critical time maternal nutrition is one of the most important factors that can affect offspring health and performance. Methionine, besides being the first limiting amino, is an important precursor of antioxidants and methyl donor. Therefore, our objectives were to investigate if increasing methionine (Met) supply during late-pregnancy affects developmental, metabolic, and immune parameters of the calf at birth and during the neonatal period. Calves born to Holstein cows individually-fed a basal control [CON; 1.47 Mcal/kg dry matter (DM) and 15.3% crude protein] diet with no added Met or CON plus rumen-protected Met (MET; Mepron® at 0.09% of diet DM) during the last 28 ± 2 d of pregnancy were used. A total of 39 calves were in CON and 42 in MET. At birth, calves were randomly allocated considering dam treatment and colostrum as follows: 1) calves from CON cows and colostrum from CON cows (n = 21); 2) calves from CON cows and colostrum from MET cows (n = 18); 3) calves from MET cows and colostrum from MET cows (n = 22); and 4) calves from MET cows and colostrum from CON cows (n = 20). Liver biopsies were harvested at 4, 14, 28, and 50 d of age and used for metabolomics via GS-MS and activity of hepatic 1-carbon metabolism enzymes. Liver samples at day 4 were used for RNA sequencing, protein expression, and global DNA methylation. Blood for biomarker analyses and innate immune function assays was harvested at birth (before colostrum feeding), 7, 21, 42 and 50 d of age. Whole blood was challenged with enteropathogenic bacteria (E. coli 0118:H8), and phagocytosis and oxidative burst of neutrophils and monocytes quantified by flow cytometry. Despite greater daily DM intake pre-partum in cows fed MET (15.7 vs. 14.4  0.12 kg/d, P < 0.05), colostrum quality and quantity were not affected by maternal diet. At birth, MET calves had greater (P ≤ 0.05) body weight (BW, 44.1 vs. 42.1 ± 0.70 kg…
author: Alharthi, Abdulrahman Salem M
language: en
keywords: Epigenetics, , Methyl donors, Nutritional programming
date published: 2020-03-02T22:38:50Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:47Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/106476