A new approach in animal diet using grey system theory

Experimental challenge of bovine mammary glands with Enterococcus faecium during early and late lactation

Effect of a Direct-Fed Fibrolytic Enzyme Formulation on Nutrient Intake, Partitioning, and Excretion in Early and Late Lactation Holstein Cows

The effect of the stage of lactation on blood redox homeostasis of bovine and buffalo cows was evaluated. The investigation was carried out on early lactating and mid-late lactating cows, reared in a farm located in Campania (southern Italy). Plasma concentration of α-tocopherol and ascorbate, the total antioxidant capacity (TAC), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and superoxide dismutase activities were higher (P < 0.01) in mid-late lactating cows, thus suggesting a higher consumption of antioxidants during early lactation. Plasma concentration of protein-bound carbonyls (PC) and nitrotyrosine (N-Tyr), and the level of lipid hydroperoxides (LPO) were higher (P < 0.01) in early lactating cows, thus suggesting that lipid peroxidation and peroxynitrite production are crucial in determining oxidative modifications in plasma. TAC was positively correlated with ascorbate concentration (P < 0.03), and negatively correlated with PC concentration (P < 0.002), and ascorbate was negatively correlated with PC (P < 0.03) in mid-late lactating group. These findings demonstrate that circulating ascorbate plays a major role in preventing protein modifications induced by carbonyls, and that ascorbate scavenging effect is impaired during early lactation. We calculated a protein oxidative stress index as the ratio (PC + N-Tyr)/TAC multiplied by 100, and we found that this parameter was higher (P < 0.0001) in early lactating cows. Therefore, it could be useful for assessing the extent of protein oxidative damage in relation to the whole antioxidant status. Further, we suggest that the LPO/GPx ratio multiplied by 100 might be used as lipid oxidative stress index in lactating cows. This index was higher (P < 0.0001) in early lactating cows, and might represent a standard parameter for evaluating the lipid damage depending on a deficiency of the enzymatic antioxidant defence. These parameters are proposed for a possible effective description of physiological changes associated with lactation.  

Improving the prediction ability of FT-MIR spectroscopy to assess titratable acidity in cow’s milk

Carry-over of aflatoxin from cows' food to milk

Blood indicators are used as a tool to diagnose metabolic disorders. The present work was conducted to study the relationships among blood indicators of lipomobilization and hepatic function in high-yielding dairy cows. Two groups of Holstein cows were studied: 27 early lactation cows and 14 mid lactation cows from four different herds with similar husbandry characteristics in Galicia, Spain. Blood samples were obtained to measure beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), triglycerides (TG), and the activity of aspartate transaminase (AST) and gamma-glutamyl transferase. Cows in early lactation had higher levels of BHB and NEFA than mid lactation cows. High lipomobilization (NEFA > 400 µmol/L) was detected in 67% and 7% of early lactation and mid lactation cows, respectively, while subclinical ketosis (BHB > 1.2 mmol/L) was detected in 41% and 28% of the early lactation and lactation cows, respectively. TG concentrations were low in all cows suffering subclinical ketosis and in 61% of the cows with high lipomobilization. During early lactation, 30% of cows suffered hepatic lipidosis as detected by levels of AST. Compromised hepatic function was observed in early lactation cows as shown by lower concentrations of glucose, total protein, and urea.

Relationship of Early Lactation and Bovine Somatotropin on Nutrient Uptake by Cow Mammary Glands

In vitro effects of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide on the function and gene expression of neutrophils isolated from the blood of dairy cows

Effects of genetic capacity on milk production and on plasma metabolites in dairy cows during post-ruminal or intravenous carbohydrates or amino acid infusions

Cheddar Cheese: Influence of Milking Frequency and Stage of Lactation on Composition and Yield

Three separate experiments were carried out to determine the effects of stage of lactation and feeding level on marginal production response by dairy cows to change in feeding level. In each experiment cows were individually offered cut pasture in stalls, ad libitum initially for 10 days, and for a further 28-day period when feeding treatments were imposed. In experiment 1, a total of 37 cows in early or late lactation were offered the same high quality pasture diet either ad libitum or at 0.60 x ad libitum intake. In experiments 2 and 3, 35 and 31 cows which were in early (experiment 2) or late lactation (experiment 3) were offered pasture at 1 of 3 feeding levels: ad libitum, 0.75 x ad libitum. 0.50 x ad libitum intake. In experiment 1 the marginal response was similar, 23.5 and 25.0 g milk fat/kg change in dry matter intake, for cows offered the same diet in early or late lactation. In experiment 2, cows in early lactation showed marginal responses which ranged from 0 to 80 g milk fat/kg dry matter intake and were greater at lower feeding levels and for cows with greater initial milk production. In experiment 3, the marginal response for cows in late lactation was similar to that in experiment 1 (24.4 g milk fat/kg change in DM intake) and was not significantly affected by the level of feeding or by the initial milk production of the cow. Reduced levels of feeding in late lactation appeared to accelerate the changes in milk composition which occur normally in late lactation: increases in the concentration of milk fat and protein; a decrease in lactose concentration. It is concluded that in early lactation, much of the published variation in marginal response can be explained by differences between experiments in levels of feeding studied and in the initial milk yield of the cows. In late lactation there was much less variation in the reported magnitude of the marginal response, and the variation which did exist can be explained by experimental error.

In the context of data eruption, the data often show a short-term pattern and change rapidly which makes it difficult to use a single real value to express. For this kind of small-sample and interval data, how to analyze and predict multi-factor sequences efficiently becomes a problem. By this means, grey system theory (GST) is developed in which the interval grey numbers, as a typical object of GST, characterize the range of data and the grey relational and prediction models analyze the relations of multiple grey numbers and forecast the future. However, traditional grey relative relational model has some limitations: the results obtained always show low resolution, and there are no extractions for the interval feature information from the interval grey number sequence. In this paper, the grey relational analysis model (GRA) based on effective information transformation of interval grey numbers is established, which contains comprehensive information of area differences and slope variances and optimizes the resolution of traditional grey degree. Then, according to the relational results, the multivariable GM model (GM (1, N)) is proposed to forecast the interval grey number sequence. To verify the effectiveness of this novel model, it is established to analyze the relationship between the degree of traffic congestion and its relevant factors in the Yangtze River Delta of China and predict the development of urban traffic congestion degrees in this area over the next 5 years. In addition, some traditional statistical methods (principal component analysis, multiple linear regression models and curve regression models) are established for comparisons. The results show high performances of the novel GRA model and GM (1, N) model, which means the models proposed in this paper are suitable for interval grey numbers from regional data. The strengths which recommend the use of this novel method lie in its high recognition mechanism and multi-angle information transformation for interval grey numbers as well as its characteristic of timeliness in information processing.

Number of oocytes obtained from cows by OPU in early, but not late lactation increased with plasma insulin and estradiol concentrations and expression of mRNA of the FSH receptor in granulosa cells

Hepatic metabolic response of Holstein cows in early and mid lactation is altered by nutrient supply and lipopolysaccharide in vitro

Effects of Feeding Whole Cottonseed on Composition of Milk