Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T04:53:36.594Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of rumen degradable protein with or without fermentable carbohydrate supplementation on blood metabolites and embryo survival in cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

D. A. Kenny ,
M. P. Boland ,
M. G. Diskin  and
J. M. Sreenan
D. A. Kenny
Affiliation:
Teagasc Research Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Ireland Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
M. P. Boland
Affiliation:
Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Ireland Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
M. G. Diskin
Affiliation:
Teagasc Research Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland
J. M. Sreenan*
Affiliation:
Teagasc Research Centre, Athenry, Co. Galway, Ireland
*
Corresponding author E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

High intakes of dietary protein, particularly rumen degradable protein (RDP), lead to elevations in systemic concentrations of ammonia and (or) urea and these may be increased further if associated with inadequate fermentable energy intake. High systemic concentrations of ammonia and urea have been associated with reduced reproductive performance in cattle. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of RDP and fermentable energy intake on a range of blood metabolites and on embryo survival in heifers. Oestrous synchronized, nulliparous beef heifers (no. = 162) were randomly assigned in a 2 ✕ 2 factorial designed experiment to two levels of RDP and two levels of fermentable energy. Grass silage-based diets were supplemented with either 0 (0U) or 240 (240U) g dietary urea (460 g/kg N) and these in turn with either 0 (0P) or 3 (3P) kg dry matter of molassed sugar-beet pulp pellets (MSBP) per day. The four treatments were, therefore, (1) 0U + 0P (no. = 43), (2) 0U + 3P (no. = 44), (3) 240U + 0P (no. = 40) (4) 240U + 3P (no. = 35), respectively. Systemic concentrations of ammonia, urea, insulin, glucose and progesterone were measured. Heifers were given artificial insemination (AI) and embryo survival measured by ultrasonography at 30 and again at 40 days after AI. Systemic ammonia and urea were elevated (P < 0·001) in the animals given the high RDP diets. Supplementation with MSBP reduced systemic urea in the heifers on both high and low RDP diets. Plasma ammonia concentrations were not affected by MSBP supplementation (P > 0·05). Plasma glucose was not affected by urea or MSBP treatment (P > 0·05) but was affected by day and time of sampling (P > 0·05). Plasma concentration of insulin was not affected by urea or MSBP supplementation or by day or time of sampling (P > 0·05). Plasma concentration of progesterone was not affected by diet or time of sampling (P > 0·05). The overall embryo survival rate was 62% and was not affected by dietary urea or fermentable carbohydrate or by systemic concentrations of ammonia, urea, glucose, insulin or progesterone (P > 0·05).

Keywords

cattleembryo mortalityproteinurea
Type
Reproduction
Information
Animal Science , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , June 2002 , pp. 529 - 537
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barton, B. A., Rosario, H. A., Anderson, G. W., Grindle, B. P. and Carroll, D. J. 1996. Effects of dietary crude protein, breed, parity, and health status on the fertility of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 79: 2225–2236.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berardinelli, J. G., Weng, J., Burfening, P. J. and Adair, R. 2001. Effect of excess degradable intake protein on early embryonic development, ovarian steroids, and blood urea nitrogen on days 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the estrous cycle in mature ewes. Journal of Animal Science 79: 193–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blauweikel, R. and Kincaid, R. L. 1986. Effect of crude protein and solubility on performance and blood constituents of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 69: 2091–2098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruckental, I., Holtzman, M., Kaim, M., Aharoni, Y., Zamwell, S., Voet, H. and Arieli, A. 2000. Effect of amount of undegradable crude protein in the diets of high yielding dairy cows on energy balance and reproduction. Livestock Production Science 63: 131–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Butler, W. R. 1998. Review: effect of protein nutrition on ovarian and uterine physiology in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 81: 2533–2539.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butler, W. R. 2001. Nutritional effects on resumption of ovarian cyclicity and conception rate in postpartum dairy cows. In Fertility in the high-producing dairy cow (ed. Diskin, M. G.), British Society of Animal Science occasional publication no. 26, vol. 1, pp. 133–145.Google Scholar
Butler, W. R., Calaman, J. J. and Beam, S. W. 1996. Plasma and milk urea nitrogen in relation to pregnancy rate in lactating dairy cattle. Journal of Animal Science 74: 858–865.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Canfield, R. W., Sniffen, C. J. and Butler, R. W. 1990. Effects of excess degradable protein on postpartum reproduction and energy balance in dairy cattle. Journal of Dairy Science 73: 2342–2349.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carroll, D. J., Barton, B. A., Anderson, G. W. and Smith, R. D. 1988. Influence of protein intake and feeding strategy on reproductive performance of dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 71: 3470–3481.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Conrad, H. R., Baile, C. A. and Mayer, J. 1977. Changing meal patterns and suppression of feed intake with increasing amounts of dietary nonprotein nitrogen in ruminants. Journal of Dairy Science 60: 1725–1733.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
De Wit, A. A. C., Cesar, M. L. F. and Kruip, T. A. M. 2001. Effect of urea during in vitro maturation on nuclear maturation and embryo development of bovine cumulus-oocyte-complexes. Journal of Dairy Science 84: 1800–1804.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elrod, C. C., Amburgh, M.van and Butler, W. R. 1993. Alterations of pH in response to increased dietary protein in cattle are unique to the uterus. Journal of Animal Science 71: 702–706.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Elrod, C. C. and Butler, W. R. 1993. Reduction of fertility and alteration of uterine pH in heifers fed excess ruminally degradable protein. Journal of Animal Science 71: 694–701.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
European Communities (Marketing of Feedstuff) Regulations. 1984. Statutory instruments S.I. no. 200 of 1984. Google Scholar
Garcia-Bojalil, C.M, Staples, C. R., Thatcher, W. W. and Drost, M. 1994. Protein intake and development of ovarian follicles and embryos of superovulated non-lactating dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 77: 2537–2548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gath, V. P., Lonergan, P., Boland, M. P. and O’;Callaghan, D. 1999. Effect of diet type on establishment of pregnancy and embryo development in heifers. Theriogenology 51: 224 (abstr.).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grings, E. E., Roffler, R. E. and Deitelhoff, D. P. 1991. Response of dairy cows in early lactation to additions of cottonseed meal in alfalfa based diets. Journal of Dairy Science 74: 2580–2587.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammon, D. S., Wang, S. and Holyoak, G. R. 2000a. Ammonia concentration in bovine follicular fluid and its effect during in vitro maturation on subsequent embryo development. Animal Reproduction Science 58: 1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammon, D. S., Wang, S. and Holyoak, G. R. 2000b. Effects of ammonia during different stages of culture on development of in vitro produced bovine embryos. Animal Reproduction Science 59: 23–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Huntington, G. B. and Archibeque, S. L. 1999. Practical aspects of urea and ammonia metabolism in ruminants. Proceedings of the American Society of Animal Science 1999. Available at: http://www.asas.org/jas/symposia/ proceedings/0939. pdf.Google Scholar
Jordan, E. R., Chapman, T. E., Holtan, D. W. and Swanson, L. V. 1983. Relationship of dietary crude protein to composition of uterine secretions and blood in high-producing postpartum dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 66: 1854–1862.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kenny, D. A., Boland, M. P., Diskin, M. G. and Sreenan, J. M. 2001a. The effect of crude protein and fermentable carbohydrate intake on blood metabolite concentrations and fertility in beef heifers. In Fertility in the high producing dairy cow (ed. Diskin, M. G.), British Society of Animal Science, occasional publication no. 26 vol. 2, pp. 375–379.Google Scholar
Kenny, D. A., Boland, M. P., Diskin, M. G. and Sreenan, J. M. 2001b. Effect of pasture crude protein and fermentable energy supplementation on blood metabolite and progesterone concentrations and on embryo survival in heifers. Animal Science 73: 501–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laven, R. A. and Drew, S. B. 1999. Dietary protein and the reproductive performance of cows. Veterinary Record 145: 687–695.Google ScholarPubMed
Lowman, B. G., Scott, N. A. and Somerville, S. H. 1976. Condition scoring of cattle, revised edition. East of Scotland College of Agriculture bulletin no. 6.Google Scholar
McEvoy, T., Robinson, J., Aitken, R., Findlay, P. and Robertson, I. 1997. Dietary excesses of urea influence the viability and metabolism of preimplantation sheep embryos and may affect fetal growth among survivors. Animal Reproduction Science 47: 71–90.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McNeilly, A. S. and Fraser, H. M. 1987. Effect of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist-induced suppression of LH and FSH on follicle growth and corpus luteum function in the ewe. Journal of Endocrinology 115: 273–282.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1984. Energy allowances and feeding systems for ruminants. Reference book 433. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Sinclair, K. D., Kuran, M., Gebbie, F. E., Webb, R. and McEvoy, T. G. 2000. Nitrogen metabolism and fertility in cattle. II. Development of oocytes recovered from heifers offered diets differing in their rate of nitrogen release in the rumen. Journal of Animal Science 78: 2670–2680.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Statitsical Analysis Systems Institute. 1988. SAS/STAT user’s guide, release 6.03 edition. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute, Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Tilley, J. M. A. and Terry, R. A. 1963. A two stage technique for the in vitro digestion of forage crops. Journal of the British Grassland Society 17: 104–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tindal, J. S., Knaggs, G. S., Hart, I. C. and Blake, L. A. 1978. Release of growth hormone in lactating and non lactating goats in relation to behaviour, stages of sleep, electroencephalograms, environmental stimuli and levels of prolactin, insulin, glucose and free fatty acids in the circulation. Journal of Endocrinology 76: 333–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Visek, W. J. 1984. Ammonia: its effects on biological systems, metabolic hormones and reproduction. Journal of Dairy Science 67: 481–498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed