Effects of Providing Novel Feedstuffs to Livestock on Production and Skeletal Muscle Growth

As the population increases and available land for food production decreases, it is necessary for livestock producers to continually work towards increasing livestock production efficiency. In livestock operations, feed accounts for the majority of input costs associated with raising livestock. As such, it is necessary to improve growth and production of livestock animals, while also optimizing feed utilization. Different feedstuffs can be included in the diet of livestock animals to maximize growth and production. However, the effects of some of these novel feedstuffs on growth and production of livestock animals has not been elucidated. As such, we investigated the effects of including two novel alfalfa products, ProLEAF MAX™ (a pellet composed of alfalfa leaves) and ProFiber Plus™ (alfalfa stems), in the diets of beef steers, dairy heifers, and lactating dairy cows. We hypothesized that inclusion of ProLEAF MAX™ and ProFiber Plus™ in the diet would result in improved growth and performance of beef steers, growth and development of dairy heifers, and milk yield and milk components of lactating dairy cows. We found that inclusion of ProFiber Plus™ in the diet of beef steers and dairy heifers decreases feed costs without affecting overall growth in steers, but decreases growth in dairy heifers and inclusion of the two novel alfalfa products in the diet of lactating dairy cows results in improved milk yield and milk components. Additionally, we examined the effects of supplementing murine myoblasts with polyamines and polyamine precursors to further investigate novel products that may be able to be utilized in the diets of livestock animals to increase growth. We hypothesized that supplementation of polyamines and their precursors would result in improved growth of skeletal muscle cells (myoblasts). Treatment of myoblasts with polyamines and their precursors improves proliferation rates and alters mRNA expression of genes involved in polyamine biosynthesis, cell proliferation, and protein synthesis. Collectively, our observations suggest that various novel feedstuffs, whether it be alfalfa processed differently or amino acid derivatives (polyamines), have the potential to improve various growth and/or production measures. However, additional research is required to fully understand the potential of including these products in the diet

Importance of a Dietary Cation-Anion Difference in Peripartum Dairy Cows

At calving, nutrient requirements of dairy cows increase to support milk synthesis. Energy and protein requirements are increased at the initiation of lactation (Moore et al., 2000). Additionally, calcium requirements increase tremendously to meet the demands of lactation (Moore et al., 2000). Calving and subsequent milk synthesis can cause calcium concentrations in the blood to drop. When the demand for calcium exceeds the cow’s ability to mobilize calcium, hypocalcemia (low blood calcium) occurs, which can negatively impact production. This fact sheet reviews hypocalcemia in dairy cows and how to implement hypocalcemia prevention strategies

The Impact of Polyamine Precursors, Polyamines, and Steroid Hormones on Temporal Messenger RNA Abundance in Bovine Satellite Cells Induced to Differentiate

Emerging research suggests that hormones found in anabolic implants interact with polyamine biosynthesis. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of steroidal hormones, polyamines and polyamine precursors on bovine satellite cell (BSC) differentiation and polyamine biosynthesis temporally. Primary BSCs were induced to differentiate in 3% horse serum (CON) and treated with 10 nM trenbolone acetate (TBA), 10 nM estradiol (E2), 10 nM TBA and 10 nM E2, 10 mM methionine, 8 mM ornithine, 2 mM putrescine, 1.5 mM spermidine, or 0.5 mM spermine. Total mRNA was isolated 0, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24, and 48 h post-treatment. Abundance of mRNA for genes associated with induction of BSC differentiation: paired box transcription factor 7, myogenic factor 5, and myogenic differentiation factor 1 and genes in the polyamine biosynthesis pathway: ornithine decarboxylase and S-adenosylmethionine—were analyzed. Overall, steroidal hormones did not impact (p > 0.05) mRNA abundance of genes involved in BSC differentiation, but did alter (p = 0.04) abundance of genes involved in polyamine biosynthesis. Polyamine precursors influenced (p < 0.05) mRNA of genes involved in BSC differentiation. These results indicate that polyamine precursors and polyamines impact BSC differentiation and abundance of mRNA involved in polyamine biosynthesis, while steroidal hormones altered the mRNA involved in polyamine biosynthesis