Milk yield and composition, blood, and urinary parameters of Murrah buffaloes in different maturity stages during the transition period and early lactation

Figures & data

Table 1. Proportion of ingredients and chemical composition of concentrate.

Item	% DM
Proportion of ingredients
Grass (Pennisetum purpureum)^†	80.0
Ground corn	11.0
Soybean meal	3.60
Cottonseed	3.60
Urea	0.8
Limestone	0.4
Mineral^‡	0.6
Chemical composition of concentrate
Dry matter	38.1
Mineral matter	9.0
Crude protein	11.4
Ether extract	2.9
Neutral detergent fiber	65.3
Non-fiber carbohydrates^§	13.4

^† Nutrient composition (g/kg DM): 250.1 DM; 71.0 CP; 768.2 NDF and 115.1 NFC.

^‡ kg of the product contains: 190 g of Ca, 60 g of P, 20 g of S, 20 g of Mg, 35 g of K, 70 g of Na, 15 mg of Co, 700 mg of Fe, 10 mg of Cr, 700 mg of Cu, 40 mg of I, 1,600 mg of Mn, 19 g of Se, 2.500 mg of Zn, 200.000 IU of Vit A, 50.000 IU of Vit D3, 1.500 IU of Vit E.

^§ Estimated according to Hall (2000).

Figure 1. Body weight (BW)(A), body condition score (BCS)(B), change body weight (CBW)(C), and urinary pH values (D), in buffaloes. Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1. *P < 0.05, difference between primiparous and Multiparous groups in the week.

Table 2. Body weight, body condition score and clinical parameters for the different buffaloes groups during the prepartum and postpartum periods (mean ± SEM).

Item	Group^†		P – Value^‡
	Primiparous (N = 15)	Multiparous (N = 15)	Group	Week	Inter
BW (kg)^§
Prepartum	570.7 ± 20.6	670.2 ± 20.5	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Postpartum	524.2 ± 16.3	621.0 ± 14.5	<0.001	0.282	0.013
CBW (kg)^¶
Prepartum	−9.04 ± 2.8	−2.01 ± 2.2	0.058	0.031	0.132
Postpartum	1.37 ± 1.29	3.57 ± 1.37	0.823	0.387	0.052
BCS (unit)^‡
Prepartum	3.84 ± 0.12	4.25 ± 0.09	<0.001	0.006	0.084
Postpartum	3.05 ± 0.10	3.55 ± 0.09	<0.001	0.571	0.039
CBCS (unit)^₤
Prepartum	−0.14 ± 0.05	−0.02 ± 0.04	0.142	0.401	0.973
Postpartum	−0.03 ± 0.01	−0.01 ± 0.01	0.481	0.761	0.612
pH (urine)
Prepartum	7.87 ± 0.03	7.73 ± 0.04	<0.001	0.169	0.607
Postpartum	7.31 ± 0.09	7.35 ± 0.08	0.578	<0.001	0.104
RT (°C)^$
Prepartum	38.3 ± 0.09	38.6 ± 0.09	0.028	0.246	0.613
Postpartum	38.2 ± 0.06	38.2 ± 0.07	0.927	0.072	0.049
HR(beat/minutes)*
Prepartum	81.7 ± 4.45	70.9 ± 3.21	<0.001	0.226	0.106
Postpartum	70.7 ± 1.24	69.0 ± 1.23	0.223	0.009	0.802

^† Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1.

^‡ Probability effect for group, week, and interaction between group and week (Inter).

^§ Body weight.

^¶ Change in body weight.

^‡ Body condition score.

^₤ Change in body condition score.

^$ Rectal temperature.

*Heart rate.

Figure 2. Milk yield (A), casein content (B), total dry extract production (TDE)(C), and milk fat content (D) in buffaloes. Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1. *P < 0.05, difference between primiparous and Multiparous groups in the week.

Table 3. Milk yield and composition for the different buffaloes groups during the prepartum and postpartum periods (mean ± SEM).

Item	Group^†		P – Value^‡
	Primiparous (N = 15)	Multiparous (N = 15)	Group	Week	Inter
Production (Kg/day)
Milk production	6.92 ± 0.42	7.53 ± 0.33	0.192	0.614	0.992
FCM (4.0%)^§	9.48 ± 0.66	11.62 ± 0.55	0.004	0.162	0.499
Fat	0.428 ± 0.03	0.506 ± 0.02	0.008	0.462	0.303
Protein	0.338 ± 0.02	0.390 ± 0.03	0.005	0.246	0.966
Lactose	0.322 ± 0.02	0.382 ± 0.01	0.005	0.691	0.567
TDE^¶	1.09 ± 0.07	1.22 ± 0.05	0.112	0.282	0.490
NFDE^‡	0.759 ± 0.07	0.871 ± 0.07	0.045	0.639	0.814
Composition
Fat (%)	6.07 ± 0.25	6.57 ± 0.27	0.019	0.821	0.009
Protein (%)	4.81 ± 0.14	4.85 ± 0.16	0.046	0.013	0.457
Lactose (%)	4.78 ± 0.14	4.85 ± 0.15	<0.001	0.012	0.249
TDE (%)	15.14 ± 0.20	15.37 ± 0.21	0.047	0.104	0.008
NFDE (%)	10.57 ± 0.09	10.68 ± 0.10	0.030	0.732	0.320
Casein (%)	3.88 ± 0.13	3.91 ± 0.11	<0.001	0.071	0.249
MUN (mg/dL)^$	22.7 ± 2.07	27.6 ± 1.93	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
SCC (unit/mL)*	388 ± 115	330 ± 110	0.290	0.735	0.742

^† Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1.

^‡ Probability effect for group, week, and interaction between group and week (Inter).

^§ Fat corrected milk calculated with using the following equation: Y = 1 + 0.01155 [(Fat – 40) + (Protein – 31)](Di Palo 1992).

^¶ Total dry extract.

^‡ Non-fat dry extract.

^$ Milk urea nitrogen.

*Somatic cell count.

Table 4. Weekly mean values of hemogram and leukogram for the different buffaloes groups during the prepartum and postpartum periods(mean ± SEM).

Item	Group^†		P – Value^‡
	Primiparous (N = 15)	Multiparous (N = 15)	Group	Week	Inter
Erythrocytes (10^6/mm^3)
Prepartum	6.91 ± 0.61	6.05 ± 0.92	0.557	0.736	0.804
Postpartum	6.47 ± 1.12	5.86 ± 0.47	0.759	0.001	0.311
Red blood cells (10^6/mm^3)
Prepartum	6.91 ± 0.62	5.95 ± 0.50	0.347	0.708	0.751
Postpartum	6.28 ± 0.29	6.31 ± 0.75	0.759	0.001	0.311
Hematocrit (%)
Prepartum	34.8 ± 0.78	33.7 ± 0.72	0.017	0.350	0.402
Postpartum	33.9 ± 0.72	32.4 ± 0.96	0.608	0.014	0.312
MCHC (%)^§
Prepartum	34.21 ± 0.45	34.40 ± 0.67	0.012	0.182	0.457
Postpartum	34.14 ± 0.97	30.11 ± 1.81	0.039	0.919	0.026
Hemoglobin (%)
Prepartum	12.03 ± 0.32	12.02 ± 0.33	0.825	0.046	0.552
Postpartum	12.90 ± 1.17	11.43 ± 1.67	0.283	0.337	0.736
MCV (%)^¶
Prepartum	50.50 ± 1.73	54.36 ± 3.02	<0.001	0.368	0.299
Postpartum	49.73 ± 0.82	53.75 ± 0.95	<0.001	<0.001	0.066
Leukocytes (10^6/mm^3)
Prepartum	11599.1 ± 633	8004.7 ± 979	<0.001	0.052	0.686
Postpartum	10807.7 ± 843	10742.2 ± 1178	0.033	0.054	0.918
Segmented neutrophils (10^6/mm^3)
Prepartum	5224 ± 349	3941 ± 412	<0.001	0.971	0.199
Postpartum	4893 ± 532	5667 ± 1129	0.983	0.347	0.959
Lymphocytes (%)
Prepartum	43.96 ± 2.60	35.48 ± 3.52	0.001	0.017	0.012
Postpartum	40.29 ± 2.07	32.65 ± 4.13	0.005	0.387	0.853

^† Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1.

^‡ Probability effect for group, week, and interaction between group and week (Inter).

^§ Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration.

^¶ Mean corpuscular volume.

Table 5. Weekly mean values of blood metabolites for the different buffaloes groups during the prepartum and postpartum periods (mean ± SEM).

Item (mg/dL)	Group^†		P – Value^‡
	Primiparous (N = 15)	Multiparous (N = 15)	Group	Week	Inter
Glucose
Prepartum	71.5 ± 2.37	65.2 ± 2.94	0.014	0.287	0.754
Postpartum	78.2 ± 2.31	67.2 ± 2.98	0.086	0.049	0.542
Total protein
Prepartum	7.58 ± 0.28	7.92 ± 0.28	0.044	0.256	0.377
Postpartum	8.10 ± 0.23	8.62 ± 0.30	0.040	0.476	0.227
Albumin
Prepartum	2.93 ± 0.08	2.95 ± 0.08	0.779	0.203	0.560
Postpartum	5.16 ± 0.23	5.45 ± 0.23	0.173	0.362	0.259
Globulin
Prepartum	4.69 ± 0.23	4.96 ± 0.26	0.025	0.218	0.895
Postpartum	2.93 ± 0.05	3.05 ± 0.07	0.019	0.277	0.316
Urea
Prepartum	22.6 ± 1.80	21.0 ± 2.28	0.293	0.521	0.559
Postpartum	35.45 ± 3.67	43.13 ± 4.74	0.016	0.008	0.602
Total Cholesterol
Prepartum	20.5 ± 0.69	19.7 ± 0.88	0.013	0.605	0.522
Postpartum	31.6 ± 3.52	29.4 ± 4.64	0.019	0.007	0.660
Triglycerides
Prepartum	34.8 ± 5.91	32.3 ± 8.44	0.762	0.041	0.204
Postpartum	40.2 ± 4.36	41.8 ± 5.62	0.371	0.997	0.477
Calcium
Prepartum	11.14 ± 0.41	9.50 ± 0.48	0.001	0.158	0.656
Postpartum	10.22 ± 0.59	7.33 ± 0.77	<0.001	0.387	0.052
Phosphorus
Prepartum	8.43 ± 0.70	8.46 ± 0.80	0.731	0.161	0.315
Postpartum	7.92 ± 0.33	8.05 ± 0.43	0.903	0.261	0.368

^† Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1.

^‡ Probability effect for group, week, and interaction between group and week (Inter).

Table 6. Urinary metabolites concentrations for the different buffaloes groups during the prepartum and postpartum periods (mean ± SEM).

Item	Group^†		P – Value^‡
	Primiparous (N = 15)	Multiparous (N = 15)	Group	Week	Inter
K (mg/dL)
Prepartum	120.2 ± 22.5	180.4 ± 23.9	0.059	0.807	0.327
Postpartum	115.8 ± 24.4	158.5 ± 22.0	<0.001	0.222	0.399
Cl (mg/dL)
Prepartum	8.27 ± 9.06	95.9 ± 10.0	0.684	0.753	0.431
Postpartum	68.9 ± 9.31	65.1 ± 7.86	0.245	0.240	0.474
S (mg/dL)
Prepartum	13.46 ± 2.29	6.08 ± 2.43	<0.001	0.361	0.836
Postpartum	18.26 ± 2.50	8.11 ± 2.26	<0.001	0.178	0.791
Ca (mg/dL)
Prepartum	5.48 ± 1.02	7.88 ± 1.16	0.105	0.561	0.767
Postpartum	12.37 ± 1.66	13.13 ± 1.46	0.290	0.850	0.487
Urea (mg/dL)
Prepartum	588.8 ± 90.41	184.3 ± 89.39	<0.001	0.114	0.892
Postpartum	1377.3 ± 116	980.1 ± 102	<0.001	0.014	0.016
Uric acid (mg/dL)
Prepartum	3.50 ± 0.50	4.38 ± 0.50	0.077	0.901	0.445
Postpartum	4.79 ± 0.75	4.51 ± 0.68	0.190	0.230	0.808

^† Primiparous, lactation number = 1; Multiparous = lactation number > 1.

^‡ Probability effect for group, week, and interaction between group and week (Inter).

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