The major objective of this study was to determine the effect of corn straw or mixed diet on the small molecule metabolites of liver and milk production of healthy Chinese Holstein cows during lactation.In this study,metabolomic methods based on ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS)were used to study the liver metabolites of dairy cows fed on corn straw diet or mixed diet.Ten healthy Chinese Holstein cows were randomly assigned to two groups,under the same management condition,fed different diets respectively,corn straw group(CS)or a mixture of alfalfa hay and Chinese wild rye hay mixed forage group(MF).All the cows were fed for 8 weeks and recorded body weight,dry matter intake,body condition score,fat,protein,lactose,milk yield and the total solids.Livers were sampled from each cow through a liver puncture needle for analysis of a significant difference in small molecule metabolites in cow liver samples from the two different diets.The results suggested that different diet types had significant effects on liver metabolism and milk components in dairy cows.The contents of milk fat,the total solids,milk protein,lactose,dry matter intake(DMI),milk yield,milk protein(%),lactose(%)and milk fat(%)of the corn straw group were significantly lower than those of the mixed forage group(p<0.05);the contents of phosphatidylcholine(PC),histidine,hypoxanthine and mridine in liver tissues of the corn straw group were significantly lower than those in the mixed forage group(p<0.05);acetylcarnitine,uric acid,triacylglycerol(TG),acetal phosphatidylcholine(plasmenyl-PC),acetalphosphatidylethanolamine(plasmenyl-PE)and sphingomyelin(SM)of the corn straw group were significantly higher than those in the mixed forage group(p<0.05).In summary,cows fed on mixed forage diet significantly improved milk yield and lactation performance clearly.
The lactating mammary gland is a prodigious protein-producing factory, but the milk protein synthesis mechanisms are not well understood. The major objective of this paper was to elucidate which genes and pathways were involved in the regulation of milk protein synthesis in the dairy goat mammary gland. Total 36 primiparous Guanzhong dairy goats were allotted in 12 groups according to their mammary development stages： days 90 and 150 of virgin, days 30, 90, and 150 of pregnancy, days 1, 10, 35, and 60 of lactation and days 3, 7, and 21 of involution （three animals per group）. Mammary tissue RNA was isolated for quantitative real- time RT-PCR of four casein genes alpha-s 1 casein （CSN 1S 1 ）, alpha-s2 casein （CSN 1 S2）, beta-casein （CSN2） and casein kappa （CSN3）, four whey protein genes lactoglobulin （LGB）, laetalbumin （LALBA）, laetofarrin （LTF）, and Whey acidic protein （WAP） and the genes which were potentially to regulate dairy goat milk protein synthesis at the level of transcription or translation [prolactin receptor （PRLR）, AKT1, signal transducers and activators of transcription 5 （STAT5）, E74-Like Factor 5 （ELF5）, eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 （EIF4E-BP1）, S6kinase （S6K） and caveolin 1]. The results showed that all genes were up-regulated in lactation period. The expressions of PRLR, AKT1, STAT5, ELF5, and S6K were similar to mRNA expressions of milk proteins. Our results indicated that milk protein synthesis in dairy goat mammary gland was possibly regulated by these genes.
