Short communication: Associations between nonesterified fatty acids, β-hydroxybutyrate, and glucose in periparturient dairy goats

摘要

The objective of the present study was to use longitudinaldata to examine the relationships between bloodconcentrations of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA),β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), and glucose during thetransition period in dairy goats. Weekly blood sampleswere collected from Saanen goats from a commercialherd in Australia [1–7 yr; body weight 70 ± 16.0 kg;body condition score 2.5 ± 0.3; and daily milk yield2.4 ± 0.73 L/d; all mean ± standard deviation (SD)].The weekly prevalence of goats above hyperketonemiclevels (BHB ≥0.8 mmol/L) was approximately 6 timesgreater postpartum than antepartum. As well, of the935 goats sampled antepartum, 50 (5%) had at least1 hyperketonemic event, and 823 (88%) had at least 1event of NEFA above the threshold (≥0.3 mmol/L). Of847 goats tested postpartum, 258 (30%) had at least 1hyperketonemic event, and 690 goats (81%) had at least1 event of NEFA above the threshold (≥ 0.7 mmol/L).Substantial variation was found when analyzing themean days of maximum NEFA and maximum BHBconcentrations antepartum (−11 ± 6.6 and −14 ± 7.2d, respectively, mean ± SD) and postpartum (14 ± 6.6and 9 ± 6.8 d, respectively, mean ± SD). We observedmoderate to strong relationships between NEFA andBHB concentrations (r = 0.66) and between NEFAand glucose concentrations (r = −0.46) throughout thetransition period. Our results suggested that 3 to 16d in milk is the best sampling window for monitoringhyperketonemia in dairy goats, and that results from simultaneousBHB and glucose tests provide an improvedindication of the fat mobilization and energy status ofthe herd when measured close to this timeframe.