Metabolic Profile of Japanese Black Breeding Cattle Herds: Usefulness in Selection for Nutrient Supplementation to Enhance Reproductive Performance and Regional Differences

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The study aims were (1) to confirm the effects of nutritional improvement in prepartal and postpartal periods, monitored using the serum metabolic profile test (MPT) and reproductive performance, and (2) to clarify regional characteristics of the MPT results within our jurisdiction by using our MPT database. Experiment 1: Among 42 breeding cattle herds in our jurisdiction mainly fed home-pasture roughage, 3 experimental herds showing subnormal blood urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were selected and compared with 1 representative excellent herd. Dietary remedial measures were implemented from feed analysis in each herd. BUN concentration in all 3 herds increased significantly, and open days postpartum in 2 of the herds were significantly reduced, compared with values before dietary supplementation. Experiment 2: Thirty-seven herds within our jurisdiction were grouped into 3 categories (Area 1, 2 and 3) by location and soil condition of the herd pastureland. The MPT and reproductive performance in cows whose blood samples were collected at both prepartum (60-20 days before calving) and postpartum (30-90 days after calving) were compared among the 3 areas. Significant regional differences were found in prepartal albumin, total cholesterol, BUN, and glucose and postpartal BUN, glucose and open days (P<0.05). Overall, the MPT (especially BUN) might be useful for determining the metabolic nutritional status of breeding cattle herds, particularly those fed home-pasture roughage. Additionally, poor/unsatisfactory reproductive performance of beef breeding cattle herds probably reflects inadequate nutritional content of the diet, possibly arising from regional pastureland differences.

Retrospective surveillance of metabolic parameters affecting reproductive performance of Japanese Black breeding cows

“…Additionally, BUN level has been shown to be a sensitive indicator of the balance between available digestible crude protein and energy fed to a ruminant [8], which can facilitate measurement of the efficiency of protein utilization [9,10]. We recently confirmed these findings by revealing improved reproductive performance in Japanese Black breeding cattle herds through the use of dietary remedial measures based on evaluations of MPT parameters, particularly BUN and Glu, in each breeding herd in our region [17,18]. The results suggested a possible relationship between protein/energy balance, reflected as BUN and Glu levels, and reproductive efficacy in each breeding cattle herd within the MPT database in our region.…”

“…It has been reported that BUN concentration reflects current dietary protein intake, and concentration of Alb is affected by long-term protein status because of its long half-life [3,10]. Therefore, possible reasons for our study findings are that all databases were evaluated without considering regional differences in BUN concentration, as previously reported [18], or that the differences in half-life between BUN and Alb together with wide variations in pre- and postpartal sampling periods (approximately 2 months) might have affected the relationship with reproductive performance in our region.…”

“…Our follow-up study reconfirmed the usefulness of our metabolic profile test (MPT) parameters, particularly BUN and glucose (Glu), not only for determining the metabolic nutritional status of the breeding cattle herds in our region, but also for selecting the dietary remedy for each herd to improve reproductive performance. Additionally, our findings identified regional differences in the MPT results, which reflected the inadequate nutritional content of the roughage, possibly arising from regional pastureland differences [18]. Our previous results suggested that MPT parameters such as BUN and Glu may be suitable for evaluation of the metabolic nutritional status of Japanese Black breeding cattle, which may greatly affect reproductive performance, at least within our region.…”

“…Additionally, samples were analyzed for vitamins A and E (VA and VE, respectively) by high-performance liquid chromatography (Shimadzu, Japan). In the present study, only cows whose blood samples were collected at both the prepartum (between 80 and 21 days before calving; mean ± SEM, 37.7 ± 1.5 days) and postpartum (between 30 and 80 days after calving; mean ± SEM, 55.1 ± 2.1 days) period were selected for evaluation of the metabolic status of each examined group based on the results of serum biochemical analysis reported previously [12,18]. …”

Stoffwechselmonitoring in kleinen und mittelgroßen Milchrindbetrieben im Emsland

“…Stoffwechseluntersuchungen können einzeltierbezogen oder auf Herdenbasis mit Prüfgruppen erfolgen. Die Anzahl der in Screenings einbe-zogenen Kühe schwankte von drei bis zu 10 Tieren (8,12,20,21,27,28,38,41) je Leistungsgruppe. Zur Kosten reduzierung wurden auch Poolproben von mehreren Kühen genutzt (38,40).…”