Animals

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Maternal Effects on Ruminant Offspring

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental factors experienced during pregnancy, including toxins, stress, and diet, contribute to changes fetal growth, welfare, and productive traits. There is great interest in understanding the environmental basis affecting epigenetic modifications that may cause permanent changes during postnatal life. There are still many mechanisms that need to be studied to understand the exact contributions of epigenetic markers on offspring and how this can generate animals with good or bad characteristics during adulthood.

We are pleased to invite you to publish in our Special Issue, which will gather all studies highlighting recent advances in theoretical and experimental studies covering maternal effects on ruminant offspring.

This Special Issue aims to encourage scientists to publish their research contributing to our understanding of how an array of environmental factors experienced during pregnancy in ruminant animals impact fetal development and the postnatal life of offspring.

In this Special Issue, original research articles, reviews, and short communications on a wide range of ruminants are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following:

maternal environmental and genetic effects on performance, reproduction, and the health of ruminant offspring;
the effects of the maternal environment on thermoregulation, behavior, and welfare of ruminant offspring;
epigenetic modifications in offspring;
gene expression changes and their relevance to the ecosystem in which they live.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Prof. Dr. Cristiane Titto
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

farm animal
fetal programming
wildlife
homeostasis
behavior
performance
reproduction
offspring
pregnancy

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 325 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of the Metabolic Relationship between Cows and Calves by Monitoring Calf Health and Cow Automatic Milking System and Metabolic Parameters

by Mingaudas Urbutis, Dovilė Malašauskienė, Mindaugas Televičius, Vida Juozaitienė, Walter Baumgartner and Ramūnas Antanaitis

Animals 2023, 13(16), 2576; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13162576 - 10 Aug 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1037

Abstract

With this study, we investigated the relationship between a cow’s and calf’s metabolic state, and its effect on health status. To achieve this, 20 calves of primiparous and 20 calves of multiparous cows were selected. The calves were monitored for 30 days and scored for signs of disease, as described in McQuirk (2008); according to score, they were divided into healthier calves; the Low calf score group (LCS, 5–8), Medium calf score group (MCS, 9–12) and High calf score group (HCS, 14–17); or calves most prone to disease. Their mothers were monitored for the same period with a Lely Astronaut 3 herd management system (Lely, Maassluis, The Netherlands) for rumination time, milk yield, milk fat, protein, lactose concentrations and milk fat to protein ratio. Both cows and calves were sampled for blood, and concentrations of glucose with β-hydroxybutyrate were registered. The results indicate that primiparous cows had a 16% higher blood glucose concentration (3.03 mmol/L SE = 0.093) compared with multiparous cows (2.61 mmol/L, SE = 0.102) (p < 0.01), but no difference in calf glucose was recorded. Β-hydroxybutyrate levels did not differ significantly between cows and calves by parity group. Rumination time was longest in the HCS group at 550.79 min/d. and was 16% longer compared with the LCS group (461.94 min/d.; p < 0.001) and 8% longer compared with the MCS group (505.56 min/d.; p < 0.001). The MCS group rumination time mean was statistically significantly higher compared with the LCS group by 8% (p < 0.001). Milk yield was also highest in the HCS group (44.8 kg/d.): 19% higher compared with the MCS group (36.31 kg/d., p < 0.001) and 13% higher than the LCS group (38.83 kg/d., p < 0.001). There was also a significant difference between the MCS and LCS groups of 6% (p < 0.001). The HCS group had the highest milk fat concentration (4.47%): it was 4% higher compared with the LCS group (4.28%, p < 0.001) and 5% higher than the MCS group (4.25%, p < 0.001). Milk fat to protein ratio was highest in the HCS group (1.21) and was 7% higher than in the MCS group (1.12, p < 0.001) and 8% higher than in the LCS group (1.11, p < 0.001). The LCS group was determined to have the highest concentration of milk lactose (4.66%). It was 1% higher compared with the MCS group (4.62%, p < 0.001) and 1.07% higher than the HCS group (4.61%, p < 0.001). We can conclude that parity did not affect calf health status and that cows of the HCS group showed symptoms of negative energy balance expressed through higher milk yield, higher milk fat concentration and higher milk fat to protein ratio, with lower milk lactose concentration. Further and more thorough research is needed to evaluate the relationship between pregnant cows and calves. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Maternal Effects on Ruminant Offspring)

9 pages, 717 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Associations of Body Condition Score at Calving, Parity, and Calving Season on the Performance of Dairy Cows and Their Offspring

by Milaine Poczynek, Larissa de Souza Nogueira, Isabela Fonseca Carrari, Jorge Henrique Carneiro and Rodrigo de Almeida

Animals 2023, 13(4), 596; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13040596 - 08 Feb 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1398

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of body condition score (BCS) at calving, parity, and the calving season on the performance of dairy cows and their offspring. Data from 521 Holstein cows that calved a female calf and had their BCS evaluated at calving from a single commercial farm located in Southern Brazil were used. Cows were categorized into five BCS classes: class 1: <3.0 (n = 19), class 2: 3.0–3.25 (n = 134), class 3: 3.5–3.75 (n = 160), class 4: 4.0–4.25 (n = 142), and class 5: >4.25 (n = 66). Data were also categorized by calving order (primiparous and multiparous dams) and by calving season. The study was designed as a prospective cohort study. Variables with normal distribution were analyzed by the MIXED procedure of SAS, while binary outcomes were analyzed by the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS. Daughters from primiparous dams were born lighter (39.1 ± 0.42 vs. 41.4 ± 0.29 kg, p < 0.01), but they had the same weights as the daughters from multiparous cows at weaning (121.5 ± 1.67 vs. 120.4 ± 1.58 kg, p = 0.20). As expected, primiparous cows showed lower (p < 0.01) 305-day milk yields than multiparous ones: 8633 ± 363 vs. 10,761 ± 249 kg, respectively. Regarding the calving season, cows that calved in the winter were the most productive ones, and those that calved in the fall had lower milk yields (p = 0.01). Calves born in the winter were heavier at birth (p < 0.01), calved younger (p = 0.04), and produced more milk at first lactation (p = 0.03). The BCS class had an impact (p < 0.01) on calf birth weights; daughters from Class 1 cows (BCS < 3.0) were lighter (38.0 ± 1.0 kg) than the calves from Class 5 cows with a BCS > 4.25 (41.9 ± 0.57 kg). Calves from dams with a BCS < 3 (Class 1) had a 31.8% culling rate until weaning, while calves from cows with a BCS of 3.0–3.25 (Class 2) had a 9.6% culling rate (p = 0.12). These results suggest that maternal and environmental factors, such as calving season and parity, in addition to the dams’ body condition score at calving, are associated with different offspring performances. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Maternal Effects on Ruminant Offspring)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Maternal Effects on Ruminant Offspring

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Published Papers (2 papers)

Research

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI