Effect of Dry-Period Diet on the Performance and Metabolism of Dairy Cows in Early Lactation
2020
Julien Soulat | Emilie Knapp | Nassim Moula | Jean-Luc Hornick | Céline Purnelle | Isabelle Dufrasne
The objective of this work was to observe the effect of three different dry-period diets on blood metabolites (<i>p</i> = 9) and the production and fatty acid (FA) profile of milk (<i>p</i> = 19) in the peripartum period. In this study, 32 Holstein dairy cows, during their dry period, were divided in 3 different diet groups, as follows: the CONC diet (n = 11) was based on concentrate meal and straw, the CORN diet (n = 11) was based on corn silage, and the MIXED diet (n = 10) was based on corn and grass silages. According to our results, the variations of C18:2n-6, C18:3n-3, non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA), NEFA/cholesterol ratio, and albumin were significantly (<i>p</i> < 0.05) different, according to the dry diet. The dry-period diet also had a significant effect on the concentrations of urea and vitamin B<sub>12</sub> in the blood. In early lactation, this work showed that blood metabolites were more sensitive to changes in the dry diet than the production and FA profile of milk.
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