Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T00:11:49.609Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The control of appetite in lactating cows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

L. S. Monteiro
L. S. Monteiro
Affiliation:
ARC Animal Breeding Research Organisation, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JQ
Get access

Summary

A closed-loop system is proposed for the control of voluntary food intake in lactating cows, and an expression is deduced relating the response of food intake to changes in milk yield and body-weight gain.

A closed-loop system necessarily involves a delay in the response to changes in production. The rate of increase of food intake is there- fore slower than the rate of increase in milk yield. The consequent deficit in energy during the rising part of the lactation curve is met by the mobilization of body reserves, which are partly accounted for by losses in body weight. During the declining part of the lactation the delay effect leads to an excess of energy intake and to the replacement of body reserves and, consequently, of body weight.

The expression deduced from the model was fitted to four different types of lactation curve corresponding to long and short lactations of Friesians and Jerseys fed ad libitum on a complete diet. The expected food intake based on the control model was contrasted with a linear regression model. The former gave a better account of the variation in food intake in all four types of lactation.

The total change in body weight during lactation was partitioned between changes in weight due to the mobilization and replacement of reserves and gain directly attributable to food intake. There was, in general, good agreement between the observed losses in weight occurring at the beginning of lactation and those predicted from the mobilization of reserves for milk production.

The physiological implications of the model and the values estimated for the parameters are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , June 1972 , pp. 263 - 281
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1972

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adolph, E. F. 1947. Urges to eat and drink in rats. Am. J. Physiol. 151: 110–125.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baile, C. A. and Mayer, J. 1970. Hypothalamic centres: feedbacks and receptor sites in the short-term control of feed intake. In Physiology of Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant, pp. 256–263. Oriel Press, Newcastle.Google Scholar
Balch, C. C. and Campling, R. C. 1962. Regulation of voluntary food intake in rumin- ants. Nutr. Abstr. Rev. 32: 669–686.Google Scholar
Baumgardt, B. R. 1970. Control of feed intake in the regulation of energy balance. In Physiology of Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant, pp. 235–253. Oriel Press, Newcastle.Google Scholar
Blaxter, K. L. 1956. Starch equivalents, ration standards and milk production. Proc. Br. Soc. Anim. Prod. 1956: 8–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaxter, K. L., Wainman, F. W. and Wilson, R. S. 1961. The regulation of food intake by sheep. Anim. Prod. 3: 51–61.Google Scholar
Broster, W. H., Broster, Valerie J. and Smith, T. 1969. Experiments on nutrition of the dairy heifer. VIII. Effect on milk production of level of feeding at two stages of lactation. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 72: 229–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campling, R. C. 1970. Physical regulation of voluntary intake. In Physiology of Digestion and Metabolism in the Ruminant, pp. 226–234. Oriel Press, Newcastle.Google Scholar
Conrad, H. R., Pratt, A. D. and Hibbs, J. W. 1964. Regulation of feed intake in dairy cows. I. Change in importance of physical and physiological factors with increase in digestibility. J. Dairy Sci. 47: 54–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durnin, J. G. v. A. 1961. ‘Appetite’ and the relationships between expenditure and intake of calories in man. J. Physiol. 156: 294–306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Edholm, O. G., Fletcher, J. G., Mccance, R. A. and Widdowson, E. M. 1955. The energy expenditure and food intake of individual men. Br. J. Nutr. 9: 286–300.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flatt, W. P. 1966. Energy metabolism results with lactating dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 49: 230–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gibson, D. 1969. The development of complete diet for cattle. Animal Breeding Research Organisation Report, Edinburgh, 1969.Google Scholar
Hervey, G. R. 1969. Regulation of energy balance. Nature, Lond. 222: 629–631.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hirschfeld, W. J. 1970. Time series and exponential smoothing methods applied to the analysis and prediction of growth. Growth 34: 129–143.Google Scholar
Hutton, J. B. 1963. The effect of lactation on intake in the dairy cow. Proc. N.Z. Soc. Anim. Prod. 23: 35–52.Google Scholar
Kennedy, G. C. 1953. The role of depot fat in the hypothalamic control of food intake in the rat. Proc. R. Soc. B. 140: 578–592.Google ScholarPubMed
Nelder, J. A. 1961. The fitting of a generalisation of the logistic curve. Biometrics 17: 89–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poulton, B. R. 1966. Discussion of the symposium on re-evaluation of nutrition allow-ances for high producing cows. J. Dairy Sci. 49: 237–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Radloff, H. D., Schultz, L. H. and Hoekstra, W. G. 1966. Relationship of plasma free fatty acids to other blood components in ruminants under various physiological conditions. J. Dairy Sci. 49: 179–182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ronnino, M. and Laben, R. C. 1966. Response of lactating cows to free-choice feeding of milled diets containing from 10 to 100% concentrates. J. Dairy Sci. 49: 1080–1085.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russel, A. J. F., Doney, J. M. and Reid, R. L. 1967. The use of biochemical parameters in controlling nutritional state in pregnant ewes, and the effect of under-nourishment during pregnancy on lamb birthweight. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 68: 351–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. 1970. Possibilities for complete diets of ruminants. 21st A. Mtg Eur. Ass. Anim. Breed., Budapest, 1970.Google Scholar
Tulloh, N. M. and Hughes, J. W. 1965. Physical studies of the alimentary tract of grazing cattle. II. Techniques for estimating the capacity of the reticulo-rumen. N.Z. 31 agric. Res. 8: 1070–1078.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkins, B. R. 1966a. Regulation and control in engineering. In Regulation and Control in Living Systems, pp. 12–28. J. Wiley and Sons, London.Google Scholar
Wilkins, B. R. 1966b. Basic mathematics of control. In Regulation and Control in Living Systems, pp. 28–58. J. Wiley and Sons, London.Google Scholar