Nutritional strategies to decrease fatty liver onset in dairy cows

Nutritional strategies to decrease the conversion of NEFA into triglycerides that accumulate in the liver of dairy cows

In addition to the nutritional strategies used to decrease the supply of circulating NEFAs available for extraction by the liver, there is the possibility of slowing the rate at which NEFAs are converted into triglycerides in the liver through nutritional additives.

Choline

It is a quasi-vitamin that has a variety of functions in mammalian metabolism. Its most important functions are as:

component of phospholipids located in the membranes of all cells of the body (phosphatidylcholine)

component of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine

as a direct precursor of betaine

The potential application of choline inclusion in transition cows’  nutrition has mainly focused on its role in lipid metabolism. Due to the fact that phosphatidylcholine is necessary for the synthesis and release of VLDL by the liver.

Choline deficiency in rats resulted in a six-fold increase in triglyceride content in the liver (Yao and Vance, 1990).

Choline formula

Administration of choline in a protected form in the rumen of dairy cows in transition tended to decrease the rate of accumulation of esterified products in liver cuts in vitro (Piepenbrink and Overton, 2003c). This implies that VLDL  export is also sensitive to choline supply in dairy cows.

Milk and fat-corrected milk yields have generally increased in response to feeding protected choline in the rumen during the transition period. Suggesting that metabolic changes in hepatic fatty acid metabolism translated into an improved performance during early lactation.

Methionine and Lysine

The two most limiting AAs for milk and milk protein synthesis are often considered  (NRC, 2001).

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