Liver morphometrics and metabolic blood profile across divergent phenotypes for feed efficiency in the bovine

Montanholi, Y. R.; Haas, Livia Sadocco; Swanson, K. C.; Coomber, Brenda L.; Yamashiro, S.; Miller, Stephen

doi:10.1186/s13028-017-0292-1

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…On the other hand, lower cholesterol concentrations in the efficient pregnant heifers may be related to differences in cholesterol metabolism and diminished lipogenesis. Other studies in young bulls [ 6 ] and feedlot steers [ 49 ] reported reduced cholesterol levels in cattle with higher feed efficiency, supporting our results. This observation could relate to a down-regulation of enzymes involved in the cholesterol synthesis, or a reduction in substrate availability because acetate is required to generate reducing equivalents, or an increase in biliary excretion of cholesterol [ 50 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Associations of Blood Analysis with Feed Efficiency and Developmental Stage in Grass-Fed Beef Heifers

Cônsolo

Munro²,

Bourgon

et al. 2018

Animals

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Simple SummaryIndividual cattle of identical developmental stage vary in their efficiency of feed utilization to achieve a similar productive performance in terms of growth rate and body composition upon accounting for breed, age and gestation stage. Technical issues to measure individual feed intake on the farm limits the identification of feed-efficient cattle. This creates a demand for indirect approaches to infer feed efficiency, such as blood parameters. Our study revealed differences in blood parameters when comparing grass-fed heifers classified as either efficient or inefficient. These differences were also influenced by the developmental stage of the heifers; some blood analytes had distinct relevance to infer about feed efficiency when comparing younger non-pregnant heifers with older and pregnant heifers. In general, improved feed efficiency seems to relate to a lower oxygen carrying capacity. We also provide evidence of associations between indicators of the immune system, blood enzymes and ions and feed efficiency. Additionally, blood analysis presented metabolic differences between non-pregnant heifers with older and pregnant heifers. Blood analysis as a practical measure for feed efficiency has relevance in the nutritional management and genetic improvement of beef cattle, which will contribute to the broad sustainability of beef farming.AbstractProxies for feed efficiency, such as blood-based indicators, applicable across heifers varying in genetic makeup and developmental state are needed. Assessments of blood analytes and performance were made in heifer calves and pregnant heifers. Residual feed intake, a measure of feed efficiency, was used to categorize each population of heifers as either efficient or inefficient. Efficient heifer calves had lower mean cell hemoglobin, greater lymphocyte count, and fewer segmented neutrophils at the end of the test compared to inefficient calves. Efficient pregnant heifers had greater counts of lymphocytes with fewer segmented neutrophils at the end than inefficient pregnant heifers. Efficient heifer calves exhibited higher specific immunoglobulin M than inefficient calves. Throughout the test, efficient heifer calves had elevated potassium and phosphorus, and reduced alkaline phosphatase (ALP) compared to inefficient heifers. Efficient pregnant heifers showed greater ALP, non-esterified fatty acids and creatinine, but lower cholesterol and globulin than inefficient pregnant heifers. Levels of red and white blood cells, creatine kinase, cholesterol, glucose, potassium and phosphorus were higher in heifer calves compared with pregnant heifers. There is potential for blood analytes as proxies for feed efficiency; however, it is necessary to consider the inherent associations with feed efficiency and heifers’ developmental stage.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

Associations of Blood Analysis with Feed Efficiency and Developmental Stage in Grass-Fed Beef Heifers

Cônsolo

Munro²,

Bourgon

et al. 2018

Animals

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“…Paula et al [ 33 ] demonstrated that the most efficient lambs had lower serum albumin concentrations. This phenomenon was also identified in the plasma of beef steers [ 34 ]. Another study by Connell et al [ 35 ] showed a relationship between serum albumin levels and DMI in sheep.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

RNA-Seq Meta-analysis identifies genes in skeletal muscle associated with gain and intake across a multi-season study of crossbred beef steers

et al. 2018

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BackgroundFeed intake and body weight gain are economically important inputs and outputs of beef production systems. The purpose of this study was to discover differentially expressed genes that will be robust for feed intake and gain across a large segment of the cattle industry. Transcriptomic studies often suffer from issues with reproducibility and cross-validation. One way to improve reproducibility is by integrating multiple datasets via meta-analysis. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed on longissimus dorsi muscle from 80 steers (5 cohorts, each with 16 animals) selected from the outside fringe of a bivariate gain and feed intake distribution to understand the genes and pathways involved in feed efficiency. In each cohort, 16 steers were selected from one of four gain and feed intake phenotypes (n = 4 per phenotype) in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with gain and feed intake as main effect variables. Each cohort was analyzed as a single experiment using a generalized linear model and results from the 5 cohort analyses were combined in a meta-analysis to identify differentially expressed genes (DEG) across the cohorts.ResultsA total of 51 genes were differentially expressed for the main effect of gain, 109 genes for the intake main effect, and 11 genes for the gain x intake interaction (Pcorrected < 0.05). A jackknife sensitivity analysis showed that, in general, the meta-analysis produced robust DEGs for the two main effects and their interaction. Pathways identified from over-represented genes included mitochondrial energy production and oxidative stress pathways for the main effect of gain due to DEG including GPD1, NDUFA6, UQCRQ, ACTC1, and MGST3. For intake, metabolic pathways including amino acid biosynthesis and degradation were identified, and for the interaction analysis the pathways identified included GADD45, pyridoxal 5’phosphate salvage, and caveolar mediated endocytosis signaling.ConclusionsVariation among DEG identified by cohort suggests that environment and breed may play large roles in the expression of genes associated with feed efficiency in the muscle of beef cattle. Meta-analyses of transcriptome data from groups of animals over multiple cohorts may be necessary to elucidate the genetics contributing these types of biological phenotypes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-4769-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…However, the size of epithelium cells in the ventral blind sac and across sacs was larger in efficient animals. Montanholi et al (2017) found a larger hepatocyte size in the livers of efficient animals with respect to the portal triad and central vein, but no difference in liver weight. Nevertheless, Richardson et al (2001), Sainz et al (2006), Gomes et al (2012), Meale et al (2017), and Fidelis et al (2017) could not find difference between RFI and visceral organ traits.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 77%

Relationship between feed efficiency and slaughter traits of French Charolais bulls

Taussat

Saintilan²,

Krauss³

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Science

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Improving feed efficiency is of interest to French beef producers so as to increase their profitability. To enable this improvement through selection, genetic correlations with production traits need to be quantified. The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters for growth, feed efficiency (FE), and slaughter performance of young beef bulls of the French Charolais breed. Three feed efficiency criteria were calculated: residual feed intake (RFI), residual gain (RG), and ratio of FE. Data on feed intake, growth, and FE were available for 4,675 Charolais bulls tested in performance test stations and fed with pelleted diet. Between 1985 and 1989, 60 among 510 of these bulls were selected to procreate one generation of 1,477 progeny bulls which received the same pelleted diet at the experimental farm in Bourges. In addition to feed intake, growth, and FE traits, these terminal bulls also had slaughter traits of carcass yield, carcass composition, and weight of visceral organs collected. Genetic parameters were estimated using linear mixed animal models. Between performance test bulls and terminal bulls, the genetic correlation of RFI was 0.80 ± 0.18; it was 0.70 ± 0.21 for RG and 0.46 ± 0.20 for FE. For carcass traits, RFI was negatively correlated with carcass yield (−0.18 ± 0.14) and muscle content (−0.47 ± 0.14) and positively with fat content (0.48 ± 0.13). Conversely, RG and FE were positively correlated with carcass yield and muscle content and negatively with fat content. For the three FE criteria, efficient animals had leaner carcass. For visceral organs (as a proportion of empty body weight), RFI was genetically correlated with the proportions of the 5th quarter (0.51 ± 0.17), internal fat (0.36 ± 0.14), abomasum (0.46 ± 0.20), intestines (0.38 ± 0.17), liver (0.36 ± 0.16), and kidneys (0.73 ± 0.11). Conversely, RG and FE were negatively associated with these traits. The high-energy expenditure associated with the high-protein turnover in visceral organs may explain this opposite relationship between FE and the proportion of visceral organs. Selection for final weight and RFI increased growth and FE in progeny, and also improved carcass yield and muscle content in the carcass. To conclude, determinations of growth and feed intake in performance test stations are effective to select bulls to improve their growth, FE, and muscle content in carcass.

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Liver morphometrics and metabolic blood profile across divergent phenotypes for feed efficiency in the bovine

Cited by 28 publications

References 46 publications

Associations of Blood Analysis with Feed Efficiency and Developmental Stage in Grass-Fed Beef Heifers

Associations of Blood Analysis with Feed Efficiency and Developmental Stage in Grass-Fed Beef Heifers

RNA-Seq Meta-analysis identifies genes in skeletal muscle associated with gain and intake across a multi-season study of crossbred beef steers

Relationship between feed efficiency and slaughter traits of French Charolais bulls

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