1. Long-term effects of CLA on cows and calves

2. Does feeding of CLA to dairy cows during the early gestation affect the cow at the beginning of the following lactation period and the newborn calf ?

3. End of feeding period (182 d)
Experimental Setup
Depletion time 56
112
168
224
280
336
392
448
days
Time [days p.p.]
End of feeding period (182 d)
days
Exposure time 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
CON
CLA50
CLA100

4. Sampling schedule for blood and milk samples and analyzed parameters
Blood
Milk
Sampling schedule
Cows
p.p. (Day 0)
p.p. (Day 0 = colostrum)
21 days p.p.
Calves
p.n. (Day 0)
1 day p.n. (after colostrum)
Parameters
Fatty acid pattern of erythrocyte lipids
Fatty acid pattern of milk fat
Stimulation ability of PBMC (MTT- and Alamar Blue assay)
Hematology (hematocrit, white blood cell picture)
Plasma metabolites (Total bilirubin, total cholesterol, glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, 3-β-hydroxybutyrate, total protein and albumin)
Further parameters: Gestation length, calf weight at birth, milk performance until day 21 p.p., live weight gain of calves until day 50 of age

5. Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON) or 50 and 100 g of a CLA containing fat supplement (CLA50 and CLA100, respectively) during the preceding lactation period on milking performance of the first 3 weeks of the following lactation and on performance of calves until day 50 of age
CON
CLA50
CLA100
Probabilities
Diet
Sex
Diet x sex
Deple-tion time1
Live weight at day 0
Cows
Gestation period [d]
283 ±2
286
285
0.394
0.196
0.009
Milk yield [kg/d ]
32.0
±2.6
32.2
±0.9
30.6
±1.1
0.790
0.946
Fat corrected milk [kg/d ]
31.4
±7.5
34.5
±4.6
35.5
±1.7
0.848
0.836
Fat [%]
3.8
±1.0
4.2
±0.6
4.7
±0.3
0.582
0.947
Protein [%]
2.5
±0.4
3.1
±0.1
0.293
0.740
Lactose [%]
3.6
±0.5
3.7
4.5
0.182
0.595
SCC [log10/mL]
1.5
2.3
1.8
0.090
0.986
Calves
LW [Day 0, kg]
43.7
±2.8
45.5
±2.3
43.3
±2.2
0.827
0.036
0.336
0.197
LWG [Day 8-50, g/d]
767
±52
734
±43
685
±41
0.469
0.727
0.895
0.088
0.772
SCC=Somatic cell count; LW=live weight; LWG=LW gain

6. Relationship between birth weight and gestation length [A] and between depletion time and daily live weight gain of calves until 50 days of age [B]
[A]
[B]
0.9
290
285
0.8
280
Live weight gain [kg/d]
0.7
Gestation period [d]
275
0.6 30 36 42 48 54
182
196
210
224
238
252
266
Live weight at partus [kg]
Depletion time [d]
[A]: y= x (r²=0.391; RSD=4 days) [B]: y= x (r²=0.291; RSD=0.08 kg/d)
CON: male; CON: female; CLA50: male; CLA50: female; CLA100: male; CLA100: female

7. Total leukocytes [g/L]
Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON ) or 50 g (CLA ) and 100 g (CLA ) of a CLA containing fat supplement during the preceding lactation period on total leukocyte counts 2 4 6 8 10 12
Total leukocytes [g/L] 21 1
Days p.p./p.n.
Cows
Calves b ab ab a a a
ab - values with no common letters are significantly different within cattle category (p<0.05, n=4-6)

8. 21 1 Days p.p./p.n. Cows Calves 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 NEFA [µEq/L]
Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON ) or 50 g (CLA ) and 100 g (CLA ) of a CLA containing fat supplement during the preceding lactation period on non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) 21 1
Days p.p./p.n.
Cows
Calves c b
200
400
600
800
1000
1200 bc ab ab a
NEFA [µEq/L] a a a a a a
a-c - values with no common letters are significantly different within cattle category (p<0.05, n=4-6)

9. 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 BHB [mMol/L] 21 1 Days p.p./p.n. Cows Calves
Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON ) or 50 g (CLA ) and 100 g (CLA ) of a CLA containing fat supplement during the preceding lactation period on β-OH bytyrate (BHB)
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
BHB [mMol/L] 21 1
Days p.p./p.n.
Cows
Calves a b
ab - values with no common letters are significantly different within cattle category (p<0.05, n=4-6)

10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Stimulation index [MTT] 21 Days p.p./p.n. Cows Calves
Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON ) or 50 g (CLA ) and 100 g (CLA ) of a CLA containing fat supplement during the preceding lactation period on stimulation ability of mononuklear cells (MTT assay) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Stimulation index
[MTT] 21
Days p.p./p.n.
Cows
Calves b b b b b ab a a a a a a
ab - values with no common letters are significantly different within cattle category (p<0.05, n=4-6)

11. SI=6.1-0.002NEFA -6.7BHB+6.3BHB² (r²=0.562, RSD=1.7)
Relationship between non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), 3-β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) and stimulation index (SI) of cows
SI= NEFA -6.7BHB+6.3BHB² (r²=0.562, RSD=1.7)
○ CON: day 0; ● CON: day 21, □ CLA50: day 0; ■CLA50: day 21; ∆ CLA100- day 0; ▲ CLA100: day 21

12. CON: day 0; CON: day 21, CLA100: day 0; CLA100: day 21
Relationship between circulating non-esterified fatty acids in cows (NEFA) and sum of saturated [A] and monounsaturated fatty acids fatty acids [B] in milk fat
[A]
[B] 80 40 76 35 72
fatty acids [%]
fatty acids [%]
Saturated
Monounsaturated 30 68 64 25 60 20
300
600
900
1200
1500
300
600
900
1200
1500
NEFA [µEq/L]
NEFA [µEq/L]
[A]: y= x (r²=0.448, RSD=3.9 µEq/L); [B]: y= )x (r²=0.445, RSD=3.9 µEq/L)
CON: day 0; CON: day 21, CLA100: day 0; CLA100: day 21

13. Fatty acid profiles of erythrocytes of cows( )and their calves ( ) measured directly after partus (Day 0) for Group CON (N=5) and Group CLA100 (N=6)
Bars and half-whiskers represent mean values and standard errors (different small letters indicate significant differences between mothers and calves while different capital letters denote significant treatment effects)

15. Stimulation index [AB] 1 2 3 4 5 6 21 Days p.p./p.n. Cows Calves
Effects of feeding cows either a control fat supplement (CON ) or 50 g (CLA ) and 100 g (CLA ) of a CLA containing fat supplement during the preceding lactation period on stimulation ability of mononuklear cells (Alamar Blue assay)
Stimulation index
[AB] 1 2 3 4 5 6 21
Days p.p./p.n.
Cows
Calves ab b a
ab - values with no common letters are significantly different within cattle category (p<0.05, n=4-6)