Alterations in nutrient digestibility and performance of heat-stressed dairy cows by dietary L-theanine supplementation

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary L-theanine supplementation on apparent nutrient digestibility, milk yield, milk composition, and blood biochemical indices of dairy cows under heat stress. Thirty Chinese Holstein cows (19.84 ± 2.42 kg milk/d, 192.36 ± 40.77 d in milk and 2 ± 0.93 parities) were divided into 3 groups of 10 animals each. The control group was fed a basal total mixed ration (TMR) diet, while treatment 1 (LTA16) and treatment 2 (LTA32) groups were fed a basal TMR diet supplemented with L-theanine at 16 and 32 g/cow per day, respectively. The results showed that feeding the dairy cows with LTA16 treatment decreased (P < 0.05) their rectal temperature, whereas feeding with LTA32 treatment decreased (P < 0.05) their rumen fluid ammonia nitrogen content. In comparison to the control group, the supplementation of L-theanine had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on the dry matter intake, nutrient digestibility, total volatile fatty acid (TVFA) concentration and molar proportion of volatile fatty acid, milk yield, milk composition, feed efficiency and antioxidant capacity of the dairy cows. The triglyceride (TG) content of the LTA32 group was significantly greater (P = 0.014) than that of the control group. With the increase in L-theanine dosage, the serum cholesterol (CHOL) content significantly increased (P = 0.013). The serum albumin (ALB; P = 0.067), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C; P = 0.053), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C; P = 0.067) contents showed an upward trend as L-theanine dosage increased. Ultimately, the results of this study show that supplementing dairy cow diet with L-theanine could decrease dairy cow rectal temperature, affect lipid metabolism, and potentially relieve the heat stress of dairy cows to some extent.