Parity and nutrient total-tract digestibility in dairy cows during transition period

• Published in: Veterinary and animal science 2023-12, Vol.22, p.100313-100313, Article 100313
• Main Authors: Vettori, Julio de M., Cavallini, Damiano, Giammarco, Melania, Lanzoni, Lydia, Vignone, Oreste, Jalal, Hassan, Mammi, Ludovica, Pezzi, Paolo, Formigoni, Andrea, Fusaro, Isa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dairy cows; Parity; Total-tract digestibility; Transition period
• ISSN: 2451-943X; 2451-943X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.vas.2023.100313

•Primiparous and multiparous cows have different total-tract digestibility of organic matter, crude protein, aNDFom, and slow pool of aNDFom.•Fair-off and close-up cow diets, which are poor in starch and with a high-forage content, had a lower total-tract starch digestion.•Primiparous cows yielded 70% of milk that did multiparous cows in the first 45 days of lactation. Cows experience many physiological, nutritional and social changes during transition period. This study aims to evaluate the differences in nutrients total-tract digestibility (nTTD) between primiparous (PP) and multiparous (MP) cows through the transition period. From -23, -5, 0, 7, 14, and 30 days from calving a sample of feed and feces samples were collected from 25 Holstein cows (11 PP and 14 MP) as well as daily rumination time through accelerometers. The results show that average nTTD were different (p ≤ 0.02) for amylase-treated neutral detergent fiber organic matter (aNDFom) and potentially digestible neutral detergent fiber (pdNDF240; 52.5 vs. 54.0 and 78.8 vs. 81.3, respectively in PP vs. MP), while no differences were found regarding pdNDF24 and starch (88.5 vs. 88.6 and 95.1 vs. 96.1, respectively in PP vs. MP). Total-tract starch digestibility (TTstarchD) was different among timepoints (p