Maternal supply of methionine during late-pregnancy enhances rate of Holstein calf development in utero and postnatal growth to a greater extent than colostrum source

Table 1 Developmental parameters and blood biomarkers at birth in calves born to cows offered a control diet (CON, n = 39) or CON supplemented with ethyl-cellulose rumen-protected Met (MET, n = 42; Mepron® at 0.09% of diet DM; Evonik Nutrition & Care GmbH, Germany) during the last 28 d of pregnancy

Item	Maternal diet		Sex			P value¹
Item	CON	MET	Bull	Heifer	SEM	M	S	M × S
Body weight, kg	42.1^b	44.1^a	44.9^a	41.3^b	0.70	0.04	< 0.01	–
Hip height, cm	79.6^b	81.3^a	81.0	79.8	0.53	0.02	0.11	–
Hip width, cm	16.3^b	16.5^ab	16.7^a	16.1^b	0.24	0.74	0.05	0.03
Wither height, cm	75.9^b	77.8^a	77.1	76.6	0.47	< 0.01	0.38	–
Body length, cm	110	112	112^a	109^b	1.0	0.30	0.04	–
Blood biomarkers, mmol/L
Glucose	4.54	4.85	4.82	4.57	0.68	0.72	0.78	–
Cholesterol	0.59	0.67	0.64	0.62	0.03	0.09	0.69	–
NEFA	0.94	1.20	1.03	1.11	0.10	0.07	0.55	–
Urea	5.63	6.31	6.47	5.47	0.39	0.19	0.06	–
BHBA	0.07	0.05	0.06	0.06	0.01	0.11	0.48	–
Creatinine	206	225	197	234	17.0	0.42	0.11	–
Amino acids, μmol/L
His	8.81^a	6.51^b	7.59	7.73	0.61	0.01	0.86	–
Ile	3.95	3.92	4.78^a	3.08^b	0.51	0.97	0.02	–
Leu	7.51	6.74	8.43^a	5.82^b	0.80	0.47	0.02	–
Lys	3.49^a	2.54^b	3.37	2.66	0.35	0.05	0.14	–
Met	2.41	1.80	2.21	2.01	0.24	0.06	0.54	–
Phe	4.63	4.20	4.40	4.44	0.32	0.30	0.93	–
Thr	4.72	3.69	4.66	3.75	0.66	0.24	0.30	–
Val	14.22	13.11	15.60^a	11.74^b	1.11	0.45	0.01	–
Ala	69.71	50.40	70.81^a	49.30^b	7.79	0.07	0.05	–
Arg	6.79	6.29	7.01	6.07	0.55	0.49	0.21	–
Asn	2.10^a	1.60^b	2.08	1.62	0.18	0.04	0.06	–
Asp	1.00	1.06	1.09	0.96	0.11	0.63	0.35	–
Glu	3.04	3.37	3.68^a	2.73^b	0.26	0.33	0.01	–
Gln	43.35	37.60	45.24	36.03	3.95	0.22	0.06	–
Gly	46.18	44.84	47.75	43.27	3.66	0.78	0.36	–
Pro	10.87	10.96	12.14^a	9.69^b	0.92	0.94	0.05	–
Ser	7.30	7.52	8.57^a	6.25^b	0.80	0.84	0.04	–
Tau	2.51	2.39	2.65	2.25	0.37	0.81	0.42	–
Tyr	3.40	2.78	2.96	3.22	0.25	0.08	0.44	–
Orn	0.26	0.22	0.27	0.21	0.02	0.18	0.06	–
3-methyl-His	0.35	0.31	0.32	0.33	0.04	0.48	0.79	–

ISSN: 2049-1891