Influence of the concentrate inclusion level in a grass silage-based diet on hepatic transcriptomic profiles in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in early lactation

Cheng, Zhangrui; Little, Mark; Ferris, Conrad; Takeda, H; Ingvartsen, K.L.; Crowe, Mark; Wathes, D. Claire

Abstract

Excessive negative energy balance (NEB) in early lactation is linked to an increased disease risk but may be mitigated by appropriate nutrition. The liver plays central roles in both metabolism and immunity. Hepatic transcriptomic profiles were compared between three dietary groups in each of 40 multiparous (MP) and 18 primiparous (PP) Holstein-Friesian cows offered isonitrogenous grass silage-based diets with different proportions of concentrates: 1) low concentrate (LC, 30% concentrate + 70% grass silage); 2) medium concentrate (MC, 50% concentrate + 50% grass silage), or 3) high concentrate (HC, 70% concentrate + 30% grass silage). Liver biopsies were taken from all cows at around 14 days in milk for RNA sequencing, and blood metabolites were measured. The sequencing data were analysed separately for PP and MP cows using CLC Genomics Workbench, focussing on comparisons between HC and LC groups. There were more differentially expressed genes (DEG) between the PP cows receiving HC vs LC diets than for MP cows (597 vs 497), with only 73 in common, indicating differential dietary responses. MP cows receiving the HC diet had significantly higher circulating glucose and IGF-1 and lower urea than those receiving the LC diet. In response to HC, only the MP cows produced more milk and in these bioinformatic analysis indicated expression changes in genes regulating fatty acid metabolism including fatty acid biosynthesis (e.g. ACACA, ELOVL6, FADS2), increased cholesterol biosynthesis (e.g. CYP7A1, FDPS, HMGCR), downregulation in hepatic amino acid synthesis (e.g. GPT, GCLC, PSPH, SHMT2) and decreased expression of acute phase proteins (e.g. HP, LBP, SAA2). The PP cows on the HC diet also downregulated genes controlling amino acid metabolism and synthesis (e.g. CTH, GCLC, GOT1, ODC1, SHMT2), but showed higher expression of genes indicative of inflammation (e.g. CCDC80, IL1B, S100A8) and fibrosis (e.g. LOX, LUM, PLOD2). This potentially adverse response to a high HC diet in physically immature animals warrants further investigation.

Citation

Cheng, Z., Little, M., Ferris, C., Takeda, H., Ingvartsen, K., Crowe, M., & Wathes, D. C. (2023). Influence of the concentrate inclusion level in a grass silage-based diet on hepatic transcriptomic profiles in Holstein-Friesian dairy cows in early lactation. Journal of Dairy Science, https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22860

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 15, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2023
• Publication Date: Jul 18, 2023
• Deposit Date: Nov 28, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Dairy Science
• Print ISSN: 0022-0302
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2022-22860