Development of comprehensive biomarkers in milk to predict dairy cow welfare and health robustness

在魁北克和整个加拿大，对动物福利的重视正在增加。加拿大奶农协会（DFC）于2015年夏季启动了proAction®倡议，展示了他们对可持续发展的承诺。在实施proAction®后，到2019年，每个加拿大奶牛场都必须遵守《行为准则》，要求奶农实现高水平的动物福利和健康。在这方面，制定评估和监测动物福利和健康状况的可靠指标至关重要。然而，据我们所知，尚未开发出用于检测牛奶样品中奶牛福利和健康状况的生物标志物。目标.本研究的主要目的是开发可常规记录的精确标记物（例如，通过牛奶记录系统DHI收集的牛奶样本），以检测福利和健康水平较低的牛群和牛群中的奶牛。确定了4个具体目标：1）确定和评估福利和健康的各种标志物之间的关系，在3种形式：血浆，牛奶和动物行为; 2）建立可以区分具有低福利水平和高福利水平的奶牛的标记，其中动物的福利状态将与（从低到高）; 3）定义和完善这些指标的使用（单独或组合）; 4）通过DHI使用的光谱系统（FTIR光谱）评估检测福利状态变化的潜力。预期成果。1)关于福利和健康水平不同类型指标之间关系的新知识。2)确定区分奶牛和牛群福利状况的指标。3)澄清这些指标的使用条件。这些指标的制定将允许早期发现健康和福利水平低的奶牛和牛群，并在中期提高魁北克和加拿大牛群的奶牛寿命，从而支持通过Novalait制定的行业优先事项。

The emphasis on animal welfare is increasing in Quebec and across Canada. Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC) launched in the summer of 2015 the proAction® initiative demonstrating their commitment to sustainable development. Upon implementation of proAction®, it will be mandatory for each Canadian dairy to comply with the Code of Practice by 2019, requiring dairy farmers to achieve high level of animal welfare and health. In this context, the development of reliable indicators for assessing and monitoring the status of animal welfare and health is of high importance. However, to our knowledge, no biomarker has been developed for the detection of cow welfare and health status in a milk sample. Objectives. The main objective of this study is to develop precision markers that could be routinely recorded (e.g. milk samples collected by milk recording system DHI) to detect herds and cows within a herd experiencing lower level of welfare and health. 4 specific objectives have been defined: 1) Identify and assess the relationship between various markers of welfare and health, in 3 forms: plasma, milk and animal behavior; 2) Establish markers that can differentiate cows with a low and a high level of welfare, where the status of welfare of the animals would be related to the level comfort (ranging from low to high) provided to the lactating cow in her tied-stall; 3) Define and refine the use of these indicators (alone or in combination); 4) Evaluate the potential to detect changes in the welfare status through a spectroscopy system used by DHI (FTIR spectroscopy). Expected results. 1) New knowledge on the relationships between different types of indicators of the level of welfare and health. 2) Identifications of indicators to discriminate between cows and herds on their welfare status. 3) Clarification of the conditions for use of these indicators. The development of these indicators will allow early detection of cows and herds at risk for low levels of health and welfare, and in the mid term, improve cow longevity in Quebec and Canadian herds, thus supporting industry priorities developed through Novalait .