Evaluation of factors associated with resistance to sub-acute ruminal acidosis

• Author / Creator

  Schlau, Nicole A

• Sub-acute ruminal acidosis is a digestive disorder experienced by animals fed a high grain diet, and causes substantial economic loss to the dairy industry. The objective of this research was to evaluate novel approaches to manage and prevent sub-acute ruminal acidosis. In Study 1, I found that precision processing barley (processing based on kernel size) does not improve dairy cow productivity. In Study 2, I showed that the extent of ruminal acidosis varies greatly among animals fed a common diet, and that acidosis resistant steers have lower volatile fatty acid (VFA) concentrations compared with susceptible steers, suggesting that resistant steers absorb more VFA, produce less VFA, or both. Further, expression of Na+/H+ exchanger-3, which imports sodium from the cell and exports hydrogen to the ruminal lumen, was higher for resistant steers. These findings suggest that Na+/H+ exchanger-3 is involved in the physiology of VFA absorption, and may play a key role in acidosis resistance.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Dairy cows
  • Milk production
  • Barley grain
  • Ruminal acidosis
  • Precision processing
  • Volatile fatty acid metabolism
  • Volatile fatty acid absorption
  • Gene-expression

• Graduation date

  Fall 2012

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R3T93J

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.