absorption capacity of the rumen during transition

Absorption capacity of the rumen

during transition

Dairy Nutrition Symposium 2012, Wageningen

R.M.A. Goselink, G. van Duinkerken, J.T. Schonewille and A.T.M. van Knegsel

CAN Dairy Nutrition Symposium 2012

Absorption capacity of the rumen during transition

Rumen function



Rumen function

Rumen microbes use ingested feed for:

● Energy

● Biosynthesis

● Reducing potential Volatile fatty acids (VFA), ammonia

VFA

● Acetic, propionic, butyric acid

● Main source of metabolizable energy for ruminants

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Propionic_acid_flat_structure.png

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Acetic-acid-2D-flat.png

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c8/Butyric_acid_flat_structure.png



VFA production

Main source of metabolizable energy for ruminants

Increased production of VFA reduces rumen pH

Negative consequences (Krause & Oetzel, 2006; Enemark, 2008):

● Reduced NDF fermentation, feed intake

● Animal health (SARA)

Solution: passage, absorption, buffering

pKa=4.76

pKa=4.87

pKa=4.76

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/32/Propionic_acid_flat_structure.png

//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Acetic-acid-2D-flat.png




VFA absorption



VFA absorption

Absorption is determined by:

● Luminal factors:

● Concentration of VFA

● pH of ingesta



VFA absorption: luminal factors

Dijkstra et al., 1993

acetic acid

propionic acid

butyric acid





VFA absorption

Absorption is determined by:

● Luminal factors:

● Concentration of VFA

● pH of ingesta

● Ruminal factors:

● Absorption surface

● Epithelial blood flow (Storm et al. 2011, 2012)



VFA absorption: ruminal factors

Rumen wall is a metabolic organ

● Absorption

● Processing

● Transport

Surface for absorption


Why papillae?

E.g. 30 papillae / 1 cm2

Papilla 15 x 5 mm

Total surface

(15 x 5) x 2 x 30

= 4500 mm2 = 45 cm2

= 45x increase!



Rumen papillae

Proliferation – how?

● VFA, butyric acid stimulate growth

● VFA, butyric acid stimulate blood flow (Dobson et al., 1971; Storm et al., 2011)

Proliferation – why?

● Absorption of energy

● More surface, more absorption (Dirksen et al., 1985)

● Stabilize rumen pH



Rumen papillae

Proliferation

● Type of feed, feed intake

● VFA, ammonia, pH, osmotic pressure

● Metabolic status/hormones (e.g. insulin (Sakata et al. 1990))

Diet changes

● weaning calves

● transition period



Transition period

dry period lactation

Transition from dry to lactating cow

A major metabolic and endocrine challenge

Calving process

Start of milk production

● Increased energy requirements

● Increased lipolysis

Change of diet, group, housing



Feed intake

Adapted from Zom et al., 2011

dry period lactation



Transition period

Diet change

● Low energy, low fermentable dry cow diet

● High energy, high fermentable lactating cow diet

VFA concentration increase (Penner et al., 2007; Bannink et al., 2012):

● 105-110 mmol/l prepartum

● 125-130 mmol/l postpartum



Transition period

Rumen wall not sufficiently adapted in early lactation

● Reduced absorption of nutrients

● Rumen acidosis, reduced feed intake

Adaptation for optimal absorption

● Turnover time (Goodlad, 1981)

● Needs 2-4 weeks at least (Bannink et al., 2008)

● May take 6-8 weeks (Dirksen et al., 1985; Martens et al., 2011; Penner et al., 2011)

Experiment

Shorten or omit the dry period?

No dry period, no diet change

● No loss of rumen wall surface for absorption

● Improved nutrient absorption post calving



Experiment

So let’s go...



Experiment

Objective

Evaluate effect of length of dry period on periparturient development of rumen papillae

60, 30 or 0 days dry

And the winner is...

30 days dry

Why?



Material & Methods

12 rumen-cannulated cows

1st parity, blocked for milk yield and body weight

Week relative to calving

-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

DP60 Dry cow diet Lactating cow diet

DP30 Lactating Dry cow diet Lactating cow diet

DP0 Lactating cow diet Lactating cow diet



Material & Methods

Diets

Dry cow diet

Lactating cow diet

Grass silage 40% 50%

Maize silage 17% 33%

Wheat straw 33% 2%

Rapeseed meal 10% 9%

Soybean meal - 7%

NEL (MJ/kg DM) 5.3 6.4

CP 12% 15%

Concentrates (kg/d) 1.0† 8.5‡

†starting at d-10 ‡only postpartum; from 1.0 to 8.5 kg/d at d17



Material & Methods

General performance

Feed intake

Milk production

Rumen evacuations

8 times during the experimental period

Biopsies: 3 different sites, 5-10 papilla each site

Measure papilla dimensions



Week relative to calving

-8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

DP60 Dry cow diet Lactating cow diet

DP30 Lactating Dry cow diet Lactating cow diet

DP0 Lactating cow diet Lactating cow diet

Material & Methods

Rumen evacuations

wk-9 wk-6 wk-2 d3 d7 d14 d28 d56



Rumen biopsy locations

Dorsal sac (DS)

Caudodorsal blind sac (CD)

Caudoventral blind sac (CV)



Material & Methods

Statistical analysis

Papilla surface: length x width x 2

REML procedure with Power model (Genstat 14th ed.)

Fixed terms:

● Week

● Treatment

● Biopsy site

Random terms:

● Cow

● Block



Results: performance

Dry matter intake

Average:

DP30>DP60 (P<0.05)

Group Kg/d

DP60 21.2

DP30 23.7

DP0 22.2



Milk production

Average:

DP30,60>DP0 (P<0.05)

Results: performance

Group Kg/d

DP60 41.8

DP30 41.4

DP0 35.1



Rumen biopsy locations

Dorsal sac (DS)

Caudodorsal blind sac (CD)

Caudoventral blind sac (CV)



Results: papilla surface

Biopsy sites

Average:

site mm2

DS 38.1

CD 50.2

CV 77.1

DS CD

CV



Papilla surface prepartum

Average:

DP30,60 decrease prepartum


Group mm2

DP60 35.1

DP30 46.8

DP0 51.3



Papilla surface wk 1-2 postpartum

Average:

DP60 delayed growth wk 1-2 postpartum (P<0.05)


Group mm2

DP60 42.5

DP30 58.6

DP0 60.6

Conclusions



Conclusions

The winner in rumen adaptation...

Shortened dry period (DP30)

● No reduction in milk production (vs. DP0)

● Improved feed intake (vs. DP60)

● Fast increase papilla surface postpartum (vs. DP60)



Conclusions

Other parities?

Other health effects?

● Energy balance

● Fertility

Results WHY DRY? project 2013



Acknowledgements

Wageningen University and Utrecht University

● Ariette Van Knegsel, Bas Kemp, Gert van Duinkerken, Thomas Schonewille

Experimental work

● Staff Dairy Campus Lelystad, BSc and MSc students

Sponsored by

● Dutch Dairy Board

● Dutch Product Board Animal Feed

● CRV

http://www.dairycampus.wur.nl/NL/

http://www.pdv.nl/index.php?switch=1

https://www.crv4all.nl/

Questions?

More info: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

absorption capacity of the rumen during transition

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