Comparative evaluation of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids supplementation on productive performance and metabolic profile in dairy cows in transtion period and early lactation

Abstract

The transition period in dairy cows is the period of time as the last three weeks before parturition to 3 weeks after parturition, where animals transition from the pregnant, no lactating state to the no pregnant, lactating state. This period is considered a very important phase in the production cycle of dairy cows due to the occurrence of various changes in metabolism and animal physiology, where changes in feeding and management may modify the productive performance of these animals during the production cycle. In this setting it is emphasized that animal is in negative energy balance (BEN), resulting from an unbalance between food intake capacity and the high nutrients requirement caused mainly by fetal development and later high milk production. Wondering to improve the metabolic condition of cows, attenuating the negative energy balance, different nutritional and management strategies are suggested in order to provide better animal production status. Among the stands out is the increase in energy density of ratio through lipid supplementation. Added to this, recent studies demonstrate that polyunsaturated fatty acids in addition to the energy factor also presented for the sources of saturated fat, have the effective regulatory capacity of many metabolic systems generating performance improvements mainly in the milk production and composition, reproductive efficiency, and immune response. The present study aims to evaluate the effects of comparative supplementation with sources of saturated and unsaturated fatty acids in diets of dairy cows' diets in a transition period and early lactation on performance and plasma concentrations of metabolites.(AU)