Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows
ABSTRACT: Milk lactose content (LC) physiologically decreases with parity order in dairy cows, but also after udder health inflammation(s) and in presence of elevated milk SCC in subclinical cases. Therefore, the progressive decrease in milk LC observed along cows' productive life can be attrib...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-01-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Dairy Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030224011834 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850120070658785280 |
|---|---|
| author | A. Costa H. Bovenhuis C. Egger-Danner B. Fuerst-Waltl M. Boutinaud J. Guinard-Flament W. Obritzhauser G. Visentin M. Penasa |
| author_facet | A. Costa H. Bovenhuis C. Egger-Danner B. Fuerst-Waltl M. Boutinaud J. Guinard-Flament W. Obritzhauser G. Visentin M. Penasa |
| author_sort | A. Costa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT: Milk lactose content (LC) physiologically decreases with parity order in dairy cows, but also after udder health inflammation(s) and in presence of elevated milk SCC in subclinical cases. Therefore, the progressive decrease in milk LC observed along cows' productive life can be attributed to a combination of factors that altogether impair the epithelial integrity, resulting in weaker tight junctions, e.g., physiological aging of epithelium, mechanical epithelial stress due to milking, and experienced clinical or subclinical mastitis. Mastitis is also known to affect the udder synthesis ability, so our intention through this study was to evaluate if there is a cumulative and lasting effect of mammary gland inflammation(s) on milk yield (MY) and LC. For this purpose, we used diagnoses of clinical mastitis and milk data of Austrian Fleckvieh cows to evaluate the effect of cumulative mastitis events on LC and MY. Only mastitis diagnoses recorded by trained veterinarians were used. Finally, we investigated if cumulative mastitis is a heritable trait and whether it is genetically correlated with either LC or MY. Estimates were obtained using univariate and bivariate linear animal models. A significant reduction in LC and MY was observed in cows that suffered from mastitis compared with those that did not experience udder inflammation. The h2 of cumulative mastitis is promising and much greater (0.09) than the h2 of the binary event itself (≤0.03). The genetic correlations between cumulative mastitis with LC and MY were negative, suggesting that cows with a great genetic merit for MY and LC are expected to be more resistant to repeated inflammations and less recidivist. When we used number of lifetime SCC peaks (≥200,000 or 400,000 cells/mL) to calculate cumulative inflammation events, h2 was even higher (up to 0.38), implying that subclinical mastitis also has a relevant negative impact on both LC and MY. Finally, the present study demonstrated how repeated mastitis events can permanently affect the mammary gland epithelial integrity and synthesis ability, and that the number of cumulative mastitis is a promising phenotype to be used in selection index in combination with other indicator traits toward more resistant and resilient mammary glands. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-fb758ed4086540a3917ac0dd2fab104d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 0022-0302 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Dairy Science |
| spelling | doaj-art-fb758ed4086540a3917ac0dd2fab104d2025-08-20T02:35:29ZengElsevierJournal of Dairy Science0022-03022025-01-01108163565010.3168/jds.2024-25467Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cowsA. Costa0H. Bovenhuis1C. Egger-Danner2B. Fuerst-Waltl3M. Boutinaud4J. Guinard-Flament5W. Obritzhauser6G. Visentin7M. Penasa8Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO), Italy; Corresponding authorAnimal Breeding and Genomics Group, Wageningen University, 6700 AH Wageningen, the NetherlandsZuchtData EDV-Dienstleistungen GmbH, A-1200 Vienna, AustriaInstitute for Livestock Sciences, BOKU University, Vienna, A-1180 Vienna, AustriaPEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, Rennes, FrancePEGASE, INRAE, Institut Agro, Rennes, FranceVeterinary Public Health and Epidemiology Unit, University of Veterinary Medicine, A-1210 Vienna, AustriaDepartment of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, 40064 Ozzano dell'Emilia (BO), ItalyDepartment of Agronomy, Food, Natural resources, Animals and Environment, University of Padova, 35020 Legnaro (PD), ItalyABSTRACT: Milk lactose content (LC) physiologically decreases with parity order in dairy cows, but also after udder health inflammation(s) and in presence of elevated milk SCC in subclinical cases. Therefore, the progressive decrease in milk LC observed along cows' productive life can be attributed to a combination of factors that altogether impair the epithelial integrity, resulting in weaker tight junctions, e.g., physiological aging of epithelium, mechanical epithelial stress due to milking, and experienced clinical or subclinical mastitis. Mastitis is also known to affect the udder synthesis ability, so our intention through this study was to evaluate if there is a cumulative and lasting effect of mammary gland inflammation(s) on milk yield (MY) and LC. For this purpose, we used diagnoses of clinical mastitis and milk data of Austrian Fleckvieh cows to evaluate the effect of cumulative mastitis events on LC and MY. Only mastitis diagnoses recorded by trained veterinarians were used. Finally, we investigated if cumulative mastitis is a heritable trait and whether it is genetically correlated with either LC or MY. Estimates were obtained using univariate and bivariate linear animal models. A significant reduction in LC and MY was observed in cows that suffered from mastitis compared with those that did not experience udder inflammation. The h2 of cumulative mastitis is promising and much greater (0.09) than the h2 of the binary event itself (≤0.03). The genetic correlations between cumulative mastitis with LC and MY were negative, suggesting that cows with a great genetic merit for MY and LC are expected to be more resistant to repeated inflammations and less recidivist. When we used number of lifetime SCC peaks (≥200,000 or 400,000 cells/mL) to calculate cumulative inflammation events, h2 was even higher (up to 0.38), implying that subclinical mastitis also has a relevant negative impact on both LC and MY. Finally, the present study demonstrated how repeated mastitis events can permanently affect the mammary gland epithelial integrity and synthesis ability, and that the number of cumulative mastitis is a promising phenotype to be used in selection index in combination with other indicator traits toward more resistant and resilient mammary glands.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030224011834SCCudder healthmilk synthesisalveolar permeabilitymammary gland inflammation |
| spellingShingle | A. Costa H. Bovenhuis C. Egger-Danner B. Fuerst-Waltl M. Boutinaud J. Guinard-Flament W. Obritzhauser G. Visentin M. Penasa Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows Journal of Dairy Science SCC udder health milk synthesis alveolar permeability mammary gland inflammation |
| title | Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| title_full | Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| title_fullStr | Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| title_short | Mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| title_sort | mastitis has a cumulative and lasting effect on milk yield and lactose content in dairy cows |
| topic | SCC udder health milk synthesis alveolar permeability mammary gland inflammation |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030224011834 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT acosta mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT hbovenhuis mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT ceggerdanner mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT bfuerstwaltl mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT mboutinaud mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT jguinardflament mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT wobritzhauser mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT gvisentin mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows AT mpenasa mastitishasacumulativeandlastingeffectonmilkyieldandlactosecontentindairycows |