90 Exposure to Endophyte-Infected Tall Fescue Negatively Impacts Pulmonary Arterial Pressure in Beef Cattle

Abstract

Abstract Fescue toxicosis negatively impacts cattle productivity. Previous data from our laboratory has demonstrated that cattle within a herd respond differently when grazing tall fescue, thus variation within a breed may provide genetic tolerance to the negative effects on performance. Fescue toxicosis results in major impacts on the cardiovascular system, thus it was hypothesized that exposure to ergot alkaloids negatively impacts pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP). The objective of this study was to examine changes in PAP and other production parameters in cattle consuming endophyte-infected tall fescue. Pregnant Angus cows (2 to 4 years; n = 65) were randomly divided to graze either endophyte-infected (EI) or novel endophyte (EN) pastures for4 consecutive weeks starting in April. Weekly measurements were collected to monitor physiological responses to consuming endophyte-infected tall fescue. In addition, PAP was measured every 4 weeks. Data were analyzed using a MIXED procedure of SAS, and statistical significance was determined at P < 0.05 and a tendency at 0.05 < P < 0.10, and evaluated the effects of treatment, age, week, and its interactions on BW, ADG, BCS, HCS, HSS and PAP. Exposure to EI did not affect BW, ADG, or BCS (P >0.05). Whereas, hair coat scores (1-5 scale) were significantly less for cattle consuming EN pastures (2.15 ± 0.05) compared with consuming EI pastures (2.31 ± 0.05; P < 0.05). Additionally, shedding scores (1-5 scale) were reduced in cattle consuming EN pastures (2.3±0.05) compared with consuming EI pastures (2.5±0.05; P< 0.05). There was a significant difference in PAP measurements in cattle exposed to EN pastures (37.16 ± 0.59 mm Hg) compared with EI pastures (31.31 ± 0.56 mm Hg; P < 0.0001). Additionally, PAP scores tended to deviate over the 14-week study between treatment groups (P = 0.0677). As expected, exposure to EI tall fescue resulted in greater HCS and HSS. However, the decrease in PAP in cattle consuming EI fescue was unexpected. Thus, further investigations are needed to examine the interaction between ergot alkaloid exposure on cardiovascular parameters such as PAP to potentially predict genetic differences in beef cattle to identify animals that would have a lower risk of developing fescue toxicosis.