Indicators of undernutrition in cattle

Abstract

Potential biochemical indicators of long-term undernutrition in cattle, which could be used objectively, reliably and routinely, were investigated by evaluating frequently analysed metabolites in cattle. In an initial study, a meta-regression of literature data for glucose, urea, non-esterifed fatty acids (NEFA) and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) against body condition score (BCS), body weight (BW) and its change (BWC) was conducted. The credible intervals of the gradients included zero for all regressions, showing that there were no significant relationships between any of the blood metabolites and BCS, BW or BWC across the 13 included studies. In a second study, fresh field samples from nine herds of adequately-nourished suckler cows and stored samples from two herds of suckler cows, which had experienced severe undernutrition, were analysed for serum albumin, total protein, urea, BHB, NEFA, creatinine, fructosamine and globulin. Positive regressions with BCS were obtained for albumin and creatinine, and a negative regression with fructosamine/albumin ratio. With the threshold for detecting undernutrition set at ≥ 10.75 μmol g–1, the fructosamine/albumin ratio gave sensitivity and specif city of 100%. Therefore, it is probably necessary to combine several blood measures to obtain a valid assessment of the nutritional state of ruminants, and we advise against the use of a single plasma metabolite concentration in assessing the nutritional state and welfare of individual cows.

Seasonal Changes in Energy-related Blood Metabolites and Mineral Profiles of Nguni and Crossbred Cattle on Communal Rangelands in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

“…Blood biochemical parameters such as glucose, cholesterol and non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) are becoming important in determining the energy status of beef cattle (Agenas et al, 2006;Yokus and Cakir, 2006). On the same note, blood concentrations of macro-and microminerals are used to monitor the mineral profiles of beef cattle (Ndlovu et al, 2009a).…”

The Effect of Propylene Glycol and Chromium on The Productive Capacity of Dairy Cattle

“…Nevertheless, the observed increased level of NEFA did not indicate excessive lipolysis [36]. It can indicate short-term negative energy balance and adipose tissue catabolism [61]. No significant effect of propylene glycol treatment in the periparturient period on NEFA concentrations was detected during prepartum and postpartum periods [42].…”

Biochemical profile of heifers with spontaneous humeral fractures suggest that protein-energy malnutrition could be an important factor in the pathology of this disease

“…Given the nature of this study and the uncertainty around interpreting point values for serum creatinine in ruminants, caution needs to be exercised when commenting on the 69% reported prevalence for low serum creatinine in the heifers in this study. Increased concentrations of serum creatinine are commonly associated with impaired renal function but in normally hydrated animals with normal renal function, serum creatinine concentration is weakly positively associated with muscle thickness and positively associated with body condition score (Agenäs et al 2006;Russell and Roussel 2007;Megahed et al 2019). Higher plasma creatinine concentrations have also been reported by Cozzi et al (2011) as normal in primiparous (67 µmol/L) vs. multiparous cows (64 µmol/L) while the reference range used by the laboratory refers to adult cows.…”