Nutrition, immune function and health of dairy cattle

Abstract

The large increase in milk yield and the structural changes in the dairy industry have caused major changes in the housing, feeding and management of the dairy cow. However, while large improvements have occurred in production and efficiency, the disease incidence, based on veterinary records, does not seem to be improved. Earlier reviews have covered critical periods such as the transition period in the cow and its influence on health and immune function, the interplay between the endocrine system and the immune system and nutrition and immune function. Knowledge on these topics is crucial for our understanding of disease risk and our effort to develop health and welfare improving strategies, including proactive management for preventing diseases and reducing the severity of diseases. To build onto this the main purpose of this review will therefore be on the effect of physiological imbalance (PI) on immune function, and to give perspectives for prevention of diseases in the dairy cow through nutrition. To a large extent, the health problems during the periparturient period relate to cows having difficulty in adapting to the nutrient needs for lactation. This may result in PI, a situation where the regulatory mechanisms are insufficient for the animals to function optimally leading to a high risk of a complex of digestive, metabolic and infectious problems. The risk of infectious diseases will be increased if the immune competence is reduced. Nutrition plays a pivotal role in the immune response and the effect of nutrition may be directly through nutrients or indirectly by metabolites, for example, in situations with PI. This review discusses the complex relationships between metabolic status and immune function and how these complex interactions increase the risk of disease during early lactation. A special focus will be placed on the major energetic fuels currently known to be used by immune cells (i.e. glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, beta-hydroxybutyrate and glutamine) and how certain metabolic states, such as degree of negative energy balance and risk of PI, contribute to immunosuppression during the periparturient period. Finally, we will address some issues on disease prevention through nutrition.

Prepartum and postpartum nutritional management to optimize fertility in high-yielding dairy cows in confined TMR systems

“…For example, within five California herds encompassing 6396 cows, cows in the lowest quartile for milk yield in the first 90 days postpartum (32.1 kg/day) were less likely to have resumed estrous cycles by 65 days postpartum than cows in quartiles two (39.1 kg/day), three (43.6 kg/day) or four (50.0 kg/day); milk production did not affect risk for pregnancy (Santos et al, 2009). Changes in management systems and inadequacies in management may be more limiting for fertility of modern dairy cows than their genetics per se.Dairy cows are susceptible to production disorders and diseases during the peripartal period and early lactation (Mulligan et al, 2006;Ingvartsen and Moyes, 2013;Roche et al, 2013). There is little evidence that milk yield per se contributes to greater disease occurrence.…”

“…In support of these findings, early occurrence of subclinical ketosis is more likely to decrease milk yield and compromise fertility. McArt et al (2012) found that cows with subclinical ketosis detected between 3 and 7 days after calving were 0.7 times as likely to conceive to first service and 4.5 times more likely to be removed from the herd within the first 30 days in milk compared with cows that developed ketosis at 8 days or later.Cows that successfully adapt to lactation (Jorritsma et al, 2003) and can avoid metabolic (Ingvartsen et al, 2003) or physiological imbalance (Ingvartsen and Moyes, 2013) are able to support both high milk production and successful reproduction while remaining healthy. Decreased fertility in the face of increasing milk production may be attributable to greater severity of postpartal NEB resulting from inadequate transition management or increased rates of disease.…”

“…Maintenance of maternal stores of protein is important for long-term health, productivity and reproduction (Bell et al, 2000). Deficiency in metabolizable protein supply may be linked to ketosis (van der Drift et al, 2012;Lean et al, 2013a) and other peripartal diseases (Roche et al, 2013), which in turn may decrease fertility.Immune system function Function of the immune system is depressed during the transition period (Ingvartsen and Moyes, 2013). Decreased ability of the immune system to respond to infectious challenges likely is responsible for the high incidence of environmental mastitis around calving, as well as the high incidence of metritis.…”

<b>Modelo de risco para mastite no pós-parto:</b> aspectos hematológicos e bioquímicos

“…Neste período há grande estresse para os animais, por ocorrerem alterações fisiológicas (FAGLIARI, et al, 1998;MEGLIA et al, 2005), hematológicas (KANEKO, 2008;BIRGEL JUNIOR, 2012, TODOROVIĆ;DAVIDOVIĆ, 2012SMITH, 2014, metabólicas (POGLIANI; BIRGEL JÚNIOR, 2007;MOREIRA et al, 2015) e imunológicas que acarretam em maior susceptibilidade a doenças ,infecciosas como mastite, metrite, além de alterações como deslocamento de abomaso, cetose e retenção de secundinas MOYES, 2012).…”

“…A maior incidência de enfermidades está relacionada ao período pós-parto, já caracterizado pela imunossupressão e pelo próprio fato do parto, da colostrogênse e da galactopoiese estarem associadas ao desenvolvimento de processos inflamatórios (BRADFORD et al, 2015). Assim como a glicose é primordial para o desenvolvimento fetal e para a produção de leite ela é a fonte de energia utilizada pelos leucócitos PMN ativos, macrófagos e linfócitos durante a inflamação, ela estimula a proliferação e diferenciação dos leucócitos além de incrementar a quimiotaxia e a fagocitose dos neutrófilos MOYES, 2012). Além disso, também é a principal fonte de energia para os monócitos, peças chaves da imunidade inata Eger et al, (2016), estas dão origem aos macrófagos, cuja capacidade fagocítica, a produção de IL-1β e a polarização de macrófagos depende diretamente da disponibilidade de glicose (EGER et al, 2016).…”