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Controlled trial of the effect of negative dietary cationanion difference on postpartum health and culling of dairy cows
Couto Serrenho, R., Bruinje, T.C...
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Objective
Negative Dietary Cation-Anion Difference (DCAD) diets fed during the prepartum period enhance calcium metabolism. Hypocalcemia influences neutrophil function and both are risk factors for clinical disease in the transition period of dairy cows.
The objective of this study was to assess the effects of a negative dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) dry cow diet on postpartum health and culling.
Material and Methods
Cows from 4 commercial dairy farms in Ontario, Canada were enrolled in a randomized controlled trial from November 2017 to April 2019. Close-up pens (1 per farm) with cows 3 wk before expected calving were randomly assigned to a negative DCAD (TRT; -100 mEq/kg DM; target urine pH 6.0–6.5) or a control diet (CON; +95 mEq/ kg DM with a placebo supplement). Each pen was fed TRT or CON for 3 months (one period) then switched to the other treatment for the next period, with 4 periods per farm. Body condition score (BCS) was measured at enrollment and urine pH was measured weekly until calving. Data from 1086 animals (TRT: n = 681; CON: n = 405) that received the assigned diet for > 2 wk were included. The incidence of milk fever (MF), retained placenta (RP), metritis, ketosis (blood BHB > 1.2 mmol/L, measured weekly in wk 1 and 2), clinical mastitis < 30 DIM (CM), displaced abomasum (DA), purulent vaginal discharge (PVD, assessed once at wk 5), ≥ 1 disease (DIS) or culling by 35 DIM were analyzed with logistic regression models with treatment, parity, BCS, and their interactions, accounting for pen-level randomization and clustering of animals within farm with random effects. There were no interactions of treatment with parity or BCS for any outcome. There were only 43 cases of MF, allowing only univariable analysis.
In a subset of 38 multiparous cows, blood was collected at -1wk, day 1 and 4 for assessment of: neutrophil phagocytosis (P) and oxidative burst (OB); ionized calcium (VetStat) and total calcium. Median fluorescence intensity for P and OB, and the shift of percentage of cells active for P and OB were measured with flow cytometry. Values represent stimulated cells minus unstimulated aliquot of the same sample.
Results
The incidence of MF was 5 ± 3% in CON and 1 ± 1% in TRT (P = 0.18). There were no treatment effects (CON vs TRT, LSM ± SE) on RP (7 ± 3%; 6 ± 2%; P = 0.71), metritis (11 vs 12%; SE = 4; P = 0.83), ketosis (21 vs 23%; SE = 4; P = 0.59, PVD (13 vs 12%; SE = 3; P = 0.51), or DIS (44 vs 41%; SE = 7; P = 0.41). Cows fed TRT had lesser incidence of CM (4 vs 2%; SE = 1, P = 0.09) and DA (3 vs 1%; SE = 1, P = 0.05). Culling < 35 DIM tended to be greater in CON (7 ± 2%) than TRT (5 ± 1%, P = 0.11).
There were no differences between treatment groups in the 4 neutrophil function outcomes (P > 0.25). Correlations of iCa or tCa with each of the PMN function outcomes were weak (r < |0.3|).
Conclusion
Contrary to our hypothesis, feeding a negative DCAD diet for 3 wk before calving did not improve neutrophil phagocytosis or oxidative burst activity. However, under commercial herd conditions, a negative DCAD fed 3 wk before parturition improved some but not all health outcomes assessed.
Keywords: Transition cow, nutrition, diseases, neutrophil function.
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