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Indicators of undernutrition in cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2023

S Agenäs ,
MF Heath ,
RM Nixon ,
JM Wilkinson  and
CJC Phillips
S Agenäs
Affiliation:
Farm Animal Epidemiology and Informatics Unit, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK
MF Heath
Affiliation:
Farm Animal Epidemiology and Informatics Unit, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2SR, UK
RM Nixon
Affiliation:
MRC Biostatistics Unit, Institute of Public Health, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 2SR, UK
JM Wilkinson
Affiliation:
Farm Animal Epidemiology and Informatics Unit, Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES, UK
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Abstract

Potential biochemical indicators of long-term undernutrition in cattle, which could be used objectively, reliably and routinely, were investigated by evaluating frequently analysed metabolites in cattle. In an initial study, a meta-regression of literature data for glucose, urea, non-esterifed fatty acids (NEFA) and β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) against body condition score (BCS), body weight (BW) and its change (BWC) was conducted. The credible intervals of the gradients included zero for all regressions, showing that there were no significant relationships between any of the blood metabolites and BCS, BW or BWC across the 13 included studies. In a second study, fresh field samples from nine herds of adequately-nourished suckler cows and stored samples from two herds of suckler cows, which had experienced severe undernutrition, were analysed for serum albumin, total protein, urea, BHB, NEFA, creatinine, fructosamine and globulin. Positive regressions with BCS were obtained for albumin and creatinine, and a negative regression with fructosamine/albumin ratio. With the threshold for detecting undernutrition set at ≥ 10.75 μmol g–1, the fructosamine/albumin ratio gave sensitivity and specif city of 100%. Therefore, it is probably necessary to combine several blood measures to obtain a valid assessment of the nutritional state of ruminants, and we advise against the use of a single plasma metabolite concentration in assessing the nutritional state and welfare of individual cows.

Keywords

albuminanimal welfarecattlefructosamineplasma metabolitesundernutrition
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 15 , Issue 2 , May 2006 , pp. 149 - 160
Copyright
© 2006 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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