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The dynamic of the ruminal content pH change and its relationship to milk composition

O. Hanušovský,D. Biro,M. Šimko,B. Gálik,M. Juráček,M. Rolinec,Ľuba Balušíková

Published 2018 in Acta Veterinaria Brno

ABSTRACT

The main goal of this study was to evaluate the health condition of dairy cows in relationship to milk production and milk composition using continuous monitoring boluses. In total, seven Holstein cows had boluses implemented for monitoring rumen pH and temperature every 15 min with an accuracy of ± 0.1 pH/ °C. Milk production test day records were noted by Breeding Services of Slovakia, s.e. (state-owned enterprise) 5 × per each cow with a bolus over 27 weeks of lactation. Dairy cows were divided into three groups according to their mean daily pH. After that, the test day records with the selected group were paired. Only two cows had pH values within the normal pH intervals during the control days. Consequently, there was found to be a 6.8% (P < 0.05) decrease in daily milk production in cows with lowered pH compared to cows with normal pH. Furthermore, there was found to be a 14.08% (P < 0.05) decrease in daily milk production in cows with an increased pH compared to cows with normal pH. Narrower fat to protein ratio and lactose content was found in cows with decreased and increased ruminal pH. The lowest milk fat concentration (P < 0.05) but the highest somatic cell count and urea content were determined in cows with decreased pH. These results show that continuous monitoring of rumen environment is a suitable method for nutrition and health management in dairy herds and allows the nutritionist to make nutritional interventions for pH stabilization within normal range in order to keep good milk production and high milk quality. Rumen pH, rumen fermentation, SARA, rumen alkalosis, milk yield, milk components Metabolic disorders of dairy cattle are related to disturbances in the metabolic processes in the organism. The transition period, which includes three weeks before and three weeks after parturition is very critical for dairy cows (Ametaj 2010). Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a common disease in high yielding dairy cows that receive highly digestible diets, and has a high economic impact as it can affect the feed intake and milk production. It can compromise a cow’s health by causing diarrhoea, laminitis, liver abscesses, production of bacterial immunogens and inflammation (Plaizier et al. 2008). Gozho et al. (2005) claim that SARA occurs when the rumen pH is between 5.2–5.6 for at least 3 h daily. Subacute ruminal acidosis is defined as periods of moderately depressed ruminal pH (about 5.5–5.0) that are between acute and chronic in duration (Garrett et al. 1999). Plaizier et al. (2008) defined a threshold for SARA time below 6.1 for more than 3 h daily. Clinical and subclinical ketosis is a wide-spread metabolic disease in dairy herds. Ketosis is often caused by a negative energy balance due to high milk production and deficient energy intake, and by excessive body fat mobilization. Intake deficient in energy often occurs after feeding poor quality feeds, insufficient food intake or other metabolic disorders (Correa et al. 1993; Reksen et al. 2002). This disease leads to milk production depression and is often accompanied with depression of reproductive performance (Ospina et al. 2010; Chapinal et al. 2012). Therefore, the impacts of ketosis (clinical or subacute) on the health, reproductive performance, and production can be costly for each affected cow, and ACTA VET. BRNO 2018, 87: 119–126; https://doi.org/10.2754/avb201887020119 Address for correspondence: Ing. Ondrej Hanušovský, PhD. Department of Animal Nutrition Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra Trieda Andreja Hlinku 2, 949 76 Nitra, Slovakia Phone: +421 376 414 320 E-mail: ondrej.hanusovsky@uniag.sk http://actavet.vfu.cz/ can affect the profitability of a dairy enterprise (Gohary et al. 2016). Tajik and Nazifi (2011) list the use of rumen fluid, rumen pH, stomach tubing, indwelling electrode, ruminal cannulation, rumenocentesis, rumen microbial composition, rumen fluids temperature, urine pH, faecal sieving, faecal lipopolysaccharide, and blood indices as SARA diagnostic techniques. Clinical and subclinical ketosis can be detected using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry for detection of ketone bodies (acetone, acetoacetate, β-hydroxybutyrate) in milk (De Roos et al. 2007), by the concentration of serum β-hydroxybutyrate (Karimi et al. 2016), or by evaluation of milk fat, milk protein and protein to fat ratio (Negussie et al. 2013). The main goal of this study was to evaluate the health condition of dairy cows in relationship with milk production and milk composition using continuous monitoring boluses. Materials and Methods Animals and housing The experiment was conducted over 27 weeks of lactation in cooperation with the University Experimental Farm in Oponice. Seven selected cows of the Holstein breed (mean age 3.57 years) had an average milk production of 10 175 kg per lactation with 3.94% of fats, 3.10% of crude proteins, and 4.7% of lactose, and each had a similar dry matter intake. Of the seven cows, three were in the 2nd lactation and four were in the 3rd lactation. The experimental cows were loose housed with a laying boxes system and automatic manure scraper in the manure corridor, together with other dairy cows. Daily diet on the feeding table was folded. Two drinkers were available for 20 dairy cows in one section. Feeding The animals were fed once daily with the Total Mix Ratio (Table 1) ad libitum between 4:00 and 5:00 h and milked × 3 per day at 6:00, 12:00 and 18:00 h. Corn silage acidity (pH 3.85) and alfalfa silage acidity (pH 4.85) were neutralised with sodium bicarbonate (550 g·head-1 daily) and magnesium oxide (51 g·head-1 daily) (Table 2). Nutritional composition of the diet was determined by standard laboratory methods and procedures (AOAC, 2000). Data measuring, data collecting and statistical evaluation Every dairy cow had a farm bolus for continual data measuring implemented orally through the oesophagus with the use of a special balling gun. Ruminal pH and temperature values were measured every 15 min (96 data points per day) with a ± 0.1 accuracy for pH. The boluses used (eCowDevon, Ltd., Great Britain) are characteristic for their small dimensions (135 × 27 mm) and low weight 207 g. Data were downloaded in the milking parlour using a handset with an antenna and a dongle connected with a USB dongle connector with a radio frequency of 434 MHz. Milk production test-day values (milk yield, milk fat, milk proteins, lactose, somatic cells and urea) were recorded over the lactation period (5 months) by the Breeding Services of Slovakia, s.e., 5 times per each cow with a bolus during the second milking at 12:00 h. Collected data were summarized using HathorHBClient v. 1.8.1 and statistically evaluated using IBM SPSS v. 20.0 (One-way ANOVA for description statistics, Tukey test for significance of differences). Dynamics and changes in the pH in % between the previous hour were calculated. After statistical evaluation, 3 levels of pH were created according to the mean daily pH using filters. Dairy cows with a mean daily pH under 5.8 were designated as cows with a decreased pH; from 5.8 to 6.8 as cows with a normal pH; and over 6.8 as cows with an increased pH. During the monitored period, the pH of 120 Table 1. Composition of daily diet. DM dry matter, NEL netto energy of lactation, CP crude protein, NDF neutral detergent fibre, HMC high moisture corn Feed DM NEL CP NDF Starch kg MJ % % % Corn silage 7.60 49.52 14.83 50.26 47.48 Alfalfa silage 5.80 25.88 29.09 39.94 1.08 Feed mixture 7.65 43.81 44.17 0.00 13.09 HMC 3.67 27.90 7.62 4.71 38.12 Cotton seed 0.74 6.76 4.29 5.08 0.23 Total 25.45 153.86 15.74 24.35 25.39 dairy cows fluctuated, so the pH of one dairy cow could have occurred in each different level of pH during test-day recordings during the whole lactation period (Table 3). Then, 35 results from milk production test days were paired to the cows within filtered groups according to the pH level during the test day.

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