Milk metabolites can characterise individual differences in animal resilience to a nutritional challenge in lactating dairy goats

TY - JOUR

T1 - Milk metabolites can characterise individual differences in animal resilience to a nutritional challenge in lactating dairy goats

AU - Abdelkrim, A Ben

AU - Ithurbide, M

AU - Larsen, Torben

AU - Schmidely, P

AU - Friggens, N.C.

PY - 2023/4

Y1 - 2023/4

N2 - The aim of this study is built in two phases: to quantify the ability of novel milk metabolites to measure between-animal variability in response and recovery profiles to a short-term nutritional challenge, then to derive a resilience index from the relationship between these individual variations. At 2 different stages of lactation, sixteen lactating dairy goats were exposed to a 2-d underfeeding challenge. The first challenge was in late lactation and the second was carried out on the same goats early in the following lactation. During the entire experiment period, samples were taken at each milking for milk metabolite measures. For each metabolite, the response profile of each goat was characterized using a piecewise model for describing the dynamic pattern of response and recovery profiles after the challenge relative to the start of the nutritional challenge. Cluster Analysis identified 3 types of response/recovery profiles per metabolite. Using cluster membership, multiple correspondence analyses (MCA) was performed to further characterize response profile types across animals and metabolites. This MCA analysis identified 3 groups of animals. Further, discriminant path analysis was able to separate these groups of multivariate response/recovery profile type based on threshold levels of 3 milk metabolites: β-hydroxybutyrate, Free-glucose and uric acid. Further analyses were done to explore the possibility of developing an index of resilience from milk metabolite measures. Different types of performance response to short-term nutritional challenge can be distinguished using multivariate analyses of a panel of milk metabolites.

AB - The aim of this study is built in two phases: to quantify the ability of novel milk metabolites to measure between-animal variability in response and recovery profiles to a short-term nutritional challenge, then to derive a resilience index from the relationship between these individual variations. At 2 different stages of lactation, sixteen lactating dairy goats were exposed to a 2-d underfeeding challenge. The first challenge was in late lactation and the second was carried out on the same goats early in the following lactation. During the entire experiment period, samples were taken at each milking for milk metabolite measures. For each metabolite, the response profile of each goat was characterized using a piecewise model for describing the dynamic pattern of response and recovery profiles after the challenge relative to the start of the nutritional challenge. Cluster Analysis identified 3 types of response/recovery profiles per metabolite. Using cluster membership, multiple correspondence analyses (MCA) was performed to further characterize response profile types across animals and metabolites. This MCA analysis identified 3 groups of animals. Further, discriminant path analysis was able to separate these groups of multivariate response/recovery profile type based on threshold levels of 3 milk metabolites: β-hydroxybutyrate, Free-glucose and uric acid. Further analyses were done to explore the possibility of developing an index of resilience from milk metabolite measures. Different types of performance response to short-term nutritional challenge can be distinguished using multivariate analyses of a panel of milk metabolites.

KW - resilience index

KW - adaptability

KW - clustering method

KW - stress biomarkers

KW - Pertubations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85149238379&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100727

DO - 10.1016/j.animal.2023.100727

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 36868059

SN - 1751-7311

VL - 17

JO - Animal

JF - Animal

IS - 4

M1 - 100727

ER -