Elolimy AA, Arroyo JM, Batistel F, Iakiviak MA, Loor JJ. Association of residual feed intake with abundance of ruminal bacteria and biopolymer hydrolyzing enzyme activities during the peripartal period and early lactation in Holstein dairy cows.
J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2018;
9:43. [PMID:
29796256 PMCID:
PMC5956847 DOI:
10.1186/s40104-018-0258-9]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Background
Residual feed intake (RFI) in dairy cattle typically calculated at peak lactation is a measure of feed efficiency independent of milk production level. The objective of this study was to evaluate differences in ruminal bacteria, biopolymer hydrolyzing enzyme activities, and overall performance between the most- and the least-efficient dairy cows during the peripartal period. Twenty multiparous Holstein dairy cows with daily ad libitum access to a total mixed ration from d − 10 to d 60 relative to the calving date were used. Cows were classified into most-efficient (i.e. with low RFI, n = 10) and least-efficient (i.e. with high RFI, n = 10) based on a linear regression model involving dry matter intake (DMI), fat-corrected milk (FCM), changes in body weight (BW), and metabolic BW.
Results
The most-efficient cows had ~ 2.6 kg/d lower DMI at wk 4, 6, 7, and 8 compared with the least-efficient cows. In addition, the most-efficient cows had greater relative abundance of total ruminal bacterial community during the peripartal period. Compared with the least-efficient cows, the most-efficient cows had 4-fold greater relative abundance of Succinivibrio dextrinosolvens at d − 10 and d 10 around parturition and tended to have greater abundance of Fibrobacter succinogenes and Megaspheara elsdenii. In contrast, the relative abundance of Butyrivibrio proteoclasticus and Streptococcus bovis was lower and Succinimonas amylolytica and Prevotella bryantii tended to be lower in the most-efficient cows around calving. During the peripartal period, the most-efficient cows had lower enzymatic activities of cellulase, amylase, and protease compared with the least-efficient cows.
Conclusions
The results suggest that shifts in ruminal bacteria and digestive enzyme activities during the peripartal period could, at least in part, be part of the mechanism associated with better feed efficiency in dairy cows.
Electronic supplementary material
The online version of this article (10.1186/s40104-018-0258-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Collapse