The Effect of Sodium Acetate and Conjugated Linoleic Acid on Feed Intake, Body Weight, Blood Metabolites, Milk Production and Composition and Liver Health Indicators in Fresh Cows

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of sodium acetate and conjugated linoleic acid on dry matter intake, body weight, activity of liver enzymes and blood metabolites in fresh cows.

This study was performed to investigate the effect of sodium acetate and conjugated linoleic acid on dry matter intake, body weight, liver enzyme activity, milk production and blood metabolites in newborn cows. Materials and Methods In this study, 24 Holstein cows with an average initial weight of 601.47±13 kg and a body condition score of 3.64±0.21 were used for 25 days during days 5-30 postpartum. This experiment was performed in 3 treatments and 8 replications in a completely randomized design by comparing the means by the mean least squares method at a significance level of 0.05. Treatments include 1- control with a source of calcium salt of palm fat, 2- Diet containing 300 g of sodium acetate supplement, 3- Diet containing 100 g of conjugated linoleic acid supplement (50% cis-9 trans-11CLA, 50% trans-10 cis-12 CLA) was. Dry matter intake and milk production were recorded daily, body weight and body condition score at the beginning and end of the experiment. Blood samples were also taken on days 5, 7, 14, 20, 25. The cows were milked in three meals of morning, evening and night, and the record of each meal was recorded. In order to measure milk composition, milk samples were taken on days 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20 and 25 after calving.

The results showed that the mean body weight, body condition score and dry matter intake were not significantly different between treatments. The concentration of non-esterified fatty acids was not affected by the treatments. Also, no significant differences were observed for triglycerides, cholesterol, albumin, total plasma protein and blood urea nitrogen between treatments. Plasma glucose concentration was significantly different between treatments (p<0.05), however, CLA and sodium acetate significantly increased and decreased compared to the control) (p<0.05. Sodium acetate significantly reduced the levels of aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase compared to control and CLA treatment (p<0.05). Daily milk, corrected milk production of 3.5% fat and milk fat percentage were significantly different between treatments, and sodium acetate and CLA treatments significantly increased and decreased milk fat percentage, respectively, compared to the control (0.05). Also, milk fat production increased with sodium acetate compared to control and decreased with CLA (p <0.05).

By consuming CLA due to the reduction of milk fat, the amount of blood glucose increased, as a result of which the intensity of the negative energy balance decreased, which in turn reduced the damage to the liver cells. Sodium acetate also improves energy levels, possibly due to the supply of acetate for milk fat synthesis. It can be concluded that adding sodium acetate is the best way to have a healthy liver along with increasing milk production and milk fat after birth.