Rumen acidosis is a metabolic disorder of ruminants, characterized by a severe drop in rumen pH. This is due to an accumulation of acids, especially lactic acid in the rumen. Lactic acid is one of the strongest acids with a major effect on rumen pH. A low and / or fluctuating rumen pH can have a severe impact on the productivity and health of dairy cattle, especially during the early lactation period. Rumen acidosis can, for example, occur during the rapid change from a low concentrate to a high concentrate diet. Megasphaera elsdenii (Me) is a lactate-utilizing micro-organism that converts the lactic acid that is produced from the fermentation of starch in the rumen, to propionic acid. Based on the ability of Me to convert lactic acid to propionic acid, a study was conducted to determine the effect of dosing live sources of Me on the level of rumen acidosis, general health and productivity. Sixty high-producing multiparous dairy cows were used in a randomized complete block design experiment. Cows were blocked according to milk production during the previous lactation and, thereafter, randomly allocated, within each block, to one of the following treatments: <ol> <li> 60% concentrate TMR;</li> <li> 60% concentrate TMR with Me dosing;</li> <li> 70% concentrate TMR;</li> <li> 70% concentrate TMR with Me dosing.</li></ol> The experimental period was 60 days and cows were dosed on day 2, 10 and 20 post-partum. Cows were housed in a semi-intensive housing unit equipped with Calan gates for determining individual feed intake. Daily milk production and dry matter intake were measured, as well as body mass and body condition score. Milk was analyzed for fat, protein, lactose and MUN; rumen fluid for pH, volatile fatty acids and lactic acid; faecal samples for pH and starch and feed refusal samples for nutrient components. In addition the health statuses of the cows were also monitored. In general the results did not show a clear advantage of dosing Me, regardless of the level of concentrate. Dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, feed efficiency, body mass and body condition score were not affected by treatment (P > 0.05). Contrary to expectation, treatment did not affect rumen pH, rumen lactic acid or volatile fatty acid concentrations (P > 0.05). Faecal pH, however, was higher and the starch content lower in cows dosed with Me (P < 0.05) suggesting a positive effect on rumen fermentation and more efficient total tract starch fermentation. Furthermore only two cows were culled from the dosed group, compare to eleven from the control group, suggesting a positive influence of Me on the general health of stress, early lactation cows. Further research is needed to better quantify the potential role of Me in preventing SARA. / Dissertation (MSc(Agric))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Animal and Wildlife Sciences / unrestricted

Orientadores: Daniella Jorge de Moura, Irenilza de Alencar Naas / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Agricola / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T00:23:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima_KarlaAndreaOliveirade_M.pdf: 1645623 bytes, checksum: afa43b69c047d8214563bc3a0f3a1a1d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Fenômenos climáticos de dimensões sem precedentes registrados nos últimos anos fizeram aumentar as preocupações na sociedade, pois estão de acordo com as projeções dos cientistas, segundo os quais qualquer mudança quanto ao clima médio afetará inevitavelmente a freqüência de acontecimentos climáticos extremos tais como ondas de calor e chuvas intensas. Onda de calor é um período de calor desconfortável anormal, geralmente acompanhado de alta umidade relativa com duração de pelo menos um dia, mas se estendendo por alguns dias ou mesmo semanas (AMS, 1989). A ocorrência destes eventos pode ocasionar o estresse térmico influenciando negativamente a produção animal, causando grandes perdas nos processos produtivos e reprodutivos. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo geral estimar as perdas da produção leiteira, em função da ocorrência de ondas de calor, nas bacias leiteiras do Estado de São Paulo, baseado no Índice de Temperatura e Umidade (ITU) médio. Para tanto foi determinada a freqüência de ocorrências de ITU acima do nível crítico. Foi elaborado um histórico de ocorrência de onda de calor no Estado de São Paulo baseado em dados climatológicos num intervalo de anos variando de três a dez anos. Também se quantificou as perdas médias estimadas de produção de leite nas principais regiões leiteiras durante os períodos identificados de onda de calor e por fim validaram-se os índices médios estimados de perdas na produção de leite com dados do controle leiteiro de uma fazenda comercial. Os resultados mostraram que os municípios da bacia leiteira do Vale do Paraíba e a cidade de Presidente Prudente foram os que apresentaram o maior número de ondas de calor por ano e que nem sempre as ondas de calor de maior duração apresentaram maior intensidade de ocorrência. Ao simular o Declínio na Produção Leiteira (DPL) das Bacias do Vale do Paraíba, São José do Rio Preto e Ribeirão Preto não foram encontradas diferenças bioclimáticas entre as mesmas. Observou-se que o DPL estimado superestimou as perdas produtivas efetivamente ocorridas, pois não considerou o efeito da adaptação dos animais ao calor nem a presença de equipamentos de climatização. Concluiu-se que o estudo da ocorrência de ondas de calor mostra de forma mais efetiva o efeito nocivo do ambiente térmico / Abstract: Climate phenomena recorded in the last years with dimensions without precedent raised the worry of society, as they are in accordance with the projections made by scientists who predicted that any change regarding the average weather may affect the frequency of occurrence of weather extremes such as heat waves and thunderstorms. Heat wave is a period of abnormal intense heat generally followed by high relative humidity with the duration of at least one day; however conventionally being extended by some days or even some weeks (AMS, 1989). The occurrence of heat waves can cause heat stress that input a negative influence in animal production causing high losses in production and reproduction processes. High environmental temperatures associated to high relative humidity almost lead to thermal discomfort which induces negatively metabolic and physiological responses. Thus this research has as general objective to estimate milk production losses as function of heat wave incidence in the dairy regions of São Paulo state based on the average temperature and humidity index (THI). Therefore it was determined the THI frequency of occurrence above the critical level. A historical of heat wave occurrence was developed based on climatic data in an interval of three to ten years. It was also quantified the estimated average milk production loss in the major dairy regions during the identified heat wave periods, finally the estimating production index was validated with milk production data from a commercial dairy farm. The results showed that the counties within the Paraiba Valley dairy region as well as Presidente Prudente County presented the highest number of heat wave occurrence per year, and that not always the heat wave with longest period presented higher intensity of occurrence. It was not found statistical difference in the bio climate when simulating the milk decline index (MDEC) for the regions of Paraiba valley, São José do Rio Preto, and Ribeirão Preto. It was observed that the simulated MDEC index present overestimated values for the milk production losses when compared to the real ones as it did not considered the effect of the animal adaptation to the heat neither the presence of acclimation equipments. The conclusion is that the study of heat wave occurrence shows in a more effective way the heat stress effect on dairy production which is not practically identified when studying just the average THI occurrence / Mestrado / Construções Rurais e Ambiencia / Mestre em Engenharia Agrícola

Thesis (M. Sc. (Animal Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / South African dairy cattle industry is characterized by a dual production system, comprising of a high input commercial production system and low input smallholder and emerging dairy herds. Performance data from both systems are included in national genetic evaluations, with models that assume homogeneous variances. If variances are heterogeneous, above average animals in more variable herds will be favoured over high performing animals in the less variable herds. This may result in biased selection and inaccurate estimation of breeding values. With intensified selection, genetically inferior animals could be chosen, thereby decreasing the realised genetic gain, resulting in lower productivity. The aim of the study was to investigate the extent of heterogeneity of variance between the two dairy production systems South African Holstein cattle. Milk production data were obtained from the Integrated Registration and Genetic Information System of South Africa (INTERGIS).High input production system data set consisted of 68 000 lactation records from 741 herds, recorded between 2006 and 2018.Pedigree file comprised of 38 126 daughters of 2 472 sires and 4 305 dams. Data for the low input production system comprised of 32 388 lactation records of 3 325 daughters of 134 sires and 253 dams from 59 herds recorded from 2006 to 2018. Hartley’s Fmax test was used to test for heterogeneity of variances for 305 day yields of milk, fat and protein between the high and low input production systems. Non-genetic factors affecting these traits were then determined by the Proc GLM procedure of SAS. Genetic and phenotypic parameters among these traits were estimated, for each production system, by the Restricted Maximum Likelihood (REML) procedure in the ASREML software.vHeritability estimates for milk, fat and protein yield, respectively, were 0.70 ± 0.027, 0.55 ± 0.35 and 0.64 ± 0.03 for the low input production system compared to 0.16 ± 0.014, 0.11 ± 0.012 and 0.145 ± 0.013 for the high input production system. Estimates for genetic correlation between milk and fat, milk and protein and fat and protein were 0.68 (0.03), 0.81(0.01) and 0.81(0.02) in the high input production system and 0.80(0.34), 0.90(0.02) and 0.91(0.01) in the low input production system respectively. Phenotypic correlations in the high input dairy production system were 0.85(0.00), 0.92(0.00) and 0.88(0.00) for milk and fat, milk and protein and protein and fat and 0.82(0.08), 0.91(0.01) and 0.91(0.34) in the low input production system, respectively. Genetic prediction models for milk production traits, in South African Holstein cattle, shouldaccount for heterogeneous variances between the high and low production systems. Herd year-season of calving, parity and linear and quadratic effects of age at calving should beincluded on the models. There is a need to increase selection pressure in the low input production system, in order to improve genetic merit for milk production traits / National Research Foundation (NRF)-VLIR and University of Limpopo

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Thirty primiparous Holstein cows in mid lactation (106± 24 d) were randomly assigned to one of six diets in an incomplete block design. Each cow received two of six diets. Cows received the first diet for 32 d, then were offered a different diet for 32 d. received two of six diets. There were 5 observations per diet per period for a total of ten observations per treatment. Diets were 12% CP soybean meal (LSB), 20% CP soybean meal (HSB), 20% CP fishmeal (FM), 20% CP corn gluten meal (CG), 20% CP CG:SB, and 20% CP FM:SB. All diets were > 75% TDN and ~ 16% acid detergent fiber. Milk yield was not different between treatments. Milk fat percent, milk lactose percent, and fat corrected milk yield were higher in cows on CG (3.13%, 5.30%, 23 kg) in contrast to cows receiving FM (2.11%, 5.00%, 20.5 kg). Milk protein percent was not different, but milk protein yield was different across treatments. Rumen ammonia concentrations differed significantly with HSB (13.5 mg/dl) higher than LSB (7.33 mg/dl), indicating the increase in ruminally degraded protein. Plasma urea concentrations reflected rumen ammonia concentrations with HSB (16.2 mg/dl) higher than LSB (6.4 mg/dl). Results suggest that protein source can affect milk composition in cows fed low fiber diets. / Master of Science

Forty-two high producing Holstein cows were paired by body condition and mature equivalent milk production and fed either a high or low energy complete ration ad libitum during the last 16-20 weeks of lactation. Cows fed the high energy ration ate more feed, produced more milk and gained more body condition than cows fed the low energy ration. Cows were fed to maintain condition during the dry period. During weeks 3-15 of the next lactation, half the cows in each condition group (fat or thin) were fed a mixed ration with soybean meal (SBM) as the major protein source. The remaining cows were fed a ration with dried brewers grains (DBG) as the main protein source. / Master of Science

Forty four first-calf heifers were randomly selected to determine lactational and metabolic responses to high fat diets and isoacids. All heifers were allowed ad libitum consumption of a control diet for the first 2 weeks of lactation and then offered experimental diets Eor the next 4 weeks. Each 6 cows of twenty four were randomly assigned to 1) a control diet (C) with 35.2% corn silage, 14.4% alfalfa haylage and 50.4% concentrate (dry matter basis), 2) C with 2% calcium stearate (S) substituted for corn grain, 3) C with 2% tallow (T) for corn grain, and 4) C with 10% whole cottonseed (W) for corn grain, cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls. The remaining 20 heifers were randomly assigned to diets C, S, T, and W, each with 4g/kg isoacids added (CI, SI, TI, and WI). Fat supplementation or isoacid addition did not affect milk production. Addition cf isoacid increased milk fat percentage, 4% fat-corrected milk, milk fat production (kg/day) and dry matter intake. Differences due tc isoacid were greatest when added to W. Increased milk lactose percentage and weight gain were evident in animal receiving WI compared to W ration. Fat supplementation depressed percentages cf milk fat, milk lactose and milk solids-not-fat. Milk protein percentage and somatic cell count were not affected by treatments. Plasma glucose,and glucose and epinephrine challenge parameters were not affected by diet. Peak plasma non-esterified fatty acid response to epinephrine injection, detected at 10 to 12 minites, was similar for C, S, T, and W. Concentrations of individual volatile fatty acids (VFA) and total VFA in rumen fluid were increased by fat supplements. Isoacid addition increased the amounts of isobutyrate and isovalerate; however, acetate and total VFA concentrations were decreased compared to CI when isoacids were added to high fat diets. The ratio of acetate to propionate was similar for all diets. Digestibilities cf dry matter, crude protein, and acid detergent fiber were not influenced by diet. The efficiency of energy utilization was highest for control diet. In conclusion, lactational, metabolic, and physiological responses to S, CI, and WI were favorable. Responses to W were lowest. / M.S.