Evaluation of Functional Fatty Acid Technology in Dairy Nutrition

最近的初步研究表明，在奶牛日粮中补充中链脂肪酸（MCFA）可以提高奶牛的生产效率、免疫功能和整体健康状况，但目前加拿大关于MCFA补充效果的研究数据很少。本试验旨在研究在泌乳中期饲喂MCFA对泌乳奶牛生产性能的影响。将在拟定研究中使用30头泌乳中期（产奶50 - 150天）的荷斯坦奶牛，这些奶牛圈养在阿尔伯塔大学（埃德蒙顿，AB）奶牛研究技术中心的扎栏牛舍中。我们将测量采食量、产奶量、乳成分、体重变化、生产效率（每千克采食量的产奶量）和选定的血浆代谢产物，以确定MCFA补充剂的影响。此外，我们将评估动物对MCFA补充的反应与试验前动物状态（例如，实验前的产奶量），以确定影响动物对MCFA补充反应的因素（如果有的话）。拟议的项目可能会通过向加拿大乳制品生产商提供国内研究数据来实现MCFA产品的商业化，这将为加拿大乳制品生产商提供更多可供考虑的技术选择，以便他们能够以具有成本效益的方式提高生产效率，动物健康和乳制品运营的盈利能力。

Recent preliminary studies suggest that supplementation of medium chain fatty acids (MCFA) in diets of dairy cows improve their production efficiency, immune function, and overall health, but little research data for effects of MCFA supplementation currently exist in Canada. The objective is to determine effect of feeding MCFA on productivity of lactating cows in mid-lactation. Thirty Holstein cows in mid-lactation (50 to 150 days in milk) housed in a tie-stall barn at Dairy Research Technology Centre at the University of Alberta (Edmonton, AB) will be used in the proposed study. We will measure feed intake, milk yield, milk composition, body weight change, production efficiency (milk yield per kg of feed intake), and selected plasma metabolites to determine effects of MCFA supplementation. In addition, we will evaluate relationship between animal responses to MCFA supplementation and pre-trial animal status (e.g., milk yield before the experiment) to determine, if any, factors affecting animal response to MCFA supplementation. The proposed project may lead to commercialization of MCFA products by providing domestic research data to dairy producers in Canada, which would increase available technology options for Canadian dairy producers to consider so that they can improve production efficiency, animal health, and profitability of dairy operations in a cost-effective manner.