Rumen-protected Lysine fed to Holstein cows prepartum and in utero effects on their offspring during the first 56 days of life

It is pivotal to provide adequate concentrations of amino acids (AA) in the prepartum diet for the cow’s health and performance. However, less is known about the potential in utero effects of particular AA on the early-life performance of calves. This experiment was conducted to determine the effects on dairy calves when their dams were fed rumen-protected lysine (RPL; AjiPro-L Generation 3, Ajinomoto Heartland Inc., Chicago, IL; 0.54 % DM of TMR as top dress) from 28 d prior to calving until calving. Seventy-two male (M) and female (F) Holstein calves were assigned to two treatments based on their dams’ prepartum treatment: RPL supplementation (PRE-L) or without RPL (CON). At the time of birth (0.5 to 2 h after calving), before colostrum was fed, blood samples were collected from the jugular vein into 8-mL evacuated serum and heparin separation tubes (Becton Dickinson, Rutherford, NJ). Initial body weight was taken at 1 to 3 h after birth. Calves were fed 470 g of colostrum replacer (Land O' Lakes Bovine IgG Colostrum Replacer, Land O’Lakes, Inc., Arden Hills, MN) diluted in 3.8 L of water. Calves were provided water ad libitum and fed milk replacer (Advance Excelerate, Milk Specialties Global Animal Nutrition, Eden Prairie, MN; 28.5% crude protein, 15% fat) at 0600 h and 1700 h until 42 d of age. Calves were measured weekly, at weaning (d 42), and at the end of the experimental period (d 56). Plasma concentrations of AA were measured on d 0, 7, and 14 using ultra-performance liquid chromatography–MS (Waters, Milford, MA; Armenta et al., 2010) with a derivatization method (AccQ-Tag Derivatization). Statistical analysis was conducted using the MIXED, FREQ, and GLIMMIX procedures of SAS (version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Final BW was higher for M than F (87 ± 11 kg and 79 ± 7 kg, respectively). Calves in PRE-L tended to have greater dry matter and crude protein intakes (814 ± 3 g/d and 234 ± 6 g/d, respectively) than those in CON (793 ± 9 g/d and 228 ± 11 g/d, respectively). Calves in PRE-L had greater average daily gain than calves in CON (0.96 ± 0.04 kg/d vs 0.85 ± 0.03 kg/d, respectively) during wk 6 to 8. Calves in PRE-L tended to be medicated fewer days than CON (4.7 ± 1.2 d vs. 6.2 ± 3.4 d, respectively). Calves in CON-F (4.59 g/dL) had greater concentrations of total protein in serum than calves in PRE-L-F (4.83 g/dL), whereas calves in CON-M (5.02 g/dL) had greater concentrations than calves in PRE-L-M (4.81 g/dL). There was a treatment × sex interaction for total AA (TAA), where calves in CON-F had higher concentrations than calves in PRE-L-F (285 µM and 268 µM, respectively) and calves in CON-M had lower concentrations than calves in PRE-L-M (258 µM and 292 µM, respectively). Calves in PRE-L tended to have higher percentages of neutrophils and monocytes present for phagocytosis than CON (40 % and 36 % vs. 25.5 % and 23.1 %, respectively). In conclusion, calves from dams that consumed RPL prepartum had improved overall growth, intake, and health compared with calves from dams that did not receive RPL.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Animal Sciences

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2021

Author dc:creator

• Thomas, Brittney Lee

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cardoso, Felipe C.
• Drackley, James K.
• Loor, Juan J.
• Stein, Hans H.

• average daily gain
• calf
• lysine
• health

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2021 Brittney Thomas

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/110620

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/110620