The effect of intramammary infection with coagulase-negative staphylococci in early lactating heifers on milk yield throughout first lactation revisited

The objective of this study was to further scrutinize the previously found positive association between intramammary infection (IMI) caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) in early lactating heifers and test-day daily milk yield (MY) throughout first lactation, with a specific focus on the effect of the heifers’ genetically determined milk production levels and the incidence of clinical mastitis. Two precise longitudinal data sets were analyzed using a series of statistical models including potential confounding and intermediate variables. The final database included the IMI status at calving, composite milk somatic cell count (SCC) and MY records at test day up to 285 d in milk (DIM), farmer-recorded clinical mastitis (CM) cases between 14 and 285 DIM, estimated new IMI incidence based on a SCC threshold of 100,000 cells/mL between 14 and 285 DIM, DIM, average 305-d MY at the herd level, and the heifers’ genetic merit for MY from 240 dairy heifers from 29 dairy herds. Seventy-one (29.6%) early lactating heifers were noninfected, 108 heifers (45.0%) were CNS infected, and 61 heifers (25.4%) were infected with any major pathogen. The positive effect of CNS IMI in early lactation on test-day MY was estimated at 1.32 kg/d using a first basic mixed regression model. Correcting for the confounder genetic merit for MY reduced this effect to 1.17 kg. Interestingly, taking into account the confounding effect of herd resulted in an increase of the estimate from 1.32 to 2.2 kg/d. The positive effect of CNS IMI in early lactation on MY after correcting the model for both confounders was estimated at 2.05 kg/d. Heifers infected with CNS in the first DIM tended to have fewer CM cases throughout lactation compared with the noninfected herd mates. Including the intermediate variable CM in the model explained 0.16 kg/d of the corrected effect of 2.05 kg/d. Inclusion of test-day SCC, another intermediate variable, however, increased the estimate by 0.11 kg/d. With an appropriate correction for several confounders and biologically understood intermediate variables such as CM, test-day SCC, and new IMI based on SCC threshold of 100,000 cells/mL, an unexplained test-day MY difference between CNS-infected and noninfected heifers of 2.0 kg/d remained.     

Survival analysis as a statistical methodology for analyzing factors that affect milk coagulation time in Holstein-Friesian and Brown Swiss cows

The aim of this study was to propose the survival analysis technique as a statistical approach for the analysis of rennet coagulation time (RCT) able to make use of coagulating and noncoagulating (NC) milk information in order to estimate potential sources of variations that affects RCT. A total of 1,025 Italian Holstein-Friesian cows (HF; progeny of 54 sires) and 1,234 Brown Swiss cows (BS; progeny of 58 sires) reared in 34 and 38 herds, respectively, were milk-sampled once. Rennet coagulation time was analyzed with a semiparametric proportional hazard model (i.e., a Cox model), with the NC samples considered as censored records. Furthermore, a different censoring scenario, with a new end point at 18 min, was considered after the rearrangement of the time space originally used for the observation of RCT. The percentage of NC samples was almost 10% for HF and 3.5% for BS cows in in the 31 min set, whereas it increased to 44 and 24.9%, respectively, in the 18 min set. Estimated hazard ratios indicated that the most important factors affecting the coagulation process were herd, days in milk, casein number, and milk acidity (expressed in terms of titratable acidity) for both HF and BS, whereas the SCS was relevant only for BS. The survival model seems to be particularly suitable for this analysis, as it can properly account for censored and uncensored records and appropriately use all available information. Moreover, this methodology allows us to rearrange the time space used for the observation of RCT and to define alternative traits (i.e., RCT with an end point at 18 min). Our restriction of the time space and the increased percentage of censored records did not highlight any substantial differences in terms of the risk of coagulating with respect to the traditional 31 min testing time. Although further research is needed to investigate the effect of these sources of variation on cheese yield, our results indicate that casein number, acidity, and SCS may be used as indicator traits for enhancing the technological properties of bovine milk.     

Genetic analysis of leukosis incidence in United States Holstein and Jersey populations

Bovine leukosis (BL) is a retroviral disease caused by the bovine leukosis virus that affects only cattle. It is associated with decreased milk production and increased cull rates due to development of lymphosarcoma. The virus also affects the immune system. Infected cows display a weak response to some vaccinations. It is important to determine if the heritability of BL susceptibility is greater than zero, or if the environment is the only factor that can be used to reduce the transmission and incidence of the disease. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to estimate the heritability for BL incidence and the genetic merit of sires for leukosis resistance in Holstein and Jersey cattle. Continuous scores and binary milk ELISA results for 13,217 Holstein cows from 114 dairy herds across 16 states and 642 Jersey cows from 8 dairy herds were considered. Data were obtained from commercial testing records at Antel BioSystems (Lansing, MI). Out of the 13,859 animals tested, 38% were found to be infected with the disease. Linear and threshold animal models were used to analyze the continuous and binary data, respectively. Results from both models were similar in terms of estimated breeding values and variance components in their respective scales. Estimates of heritability obtained with the 2 approaches were approximately 8% for both breeds, indicating a considerable genetic component underlying BL disease incidence. The correlation between the estimated breeding values from the 2 models was larger than 0.90, and the lists of top 10% bulls selected from each model had about 80% overlap for both breeds. In summary, results indicate that a simple linear model using the continuous ELISA scores as the response variable was a reasonable approach for the genetic analysis of BL incidence in cattle. In addition, the levels of heritability found indicate that genetic selection could also be used to decrease susceptibility to bovine leukosis virus infection in Holstein and Jersey cattle. Further research is necessary to investigate the genetic correlations of BL with other production and reproduction traits, and to search for potential genomic regions harboring major genes affecting BL susceptibility.     

Effects of short-term variation in forage quality and forage to concentrate ratio on lactating dairy cows

Within-farm variation in forage composition can be substantial and potentially costly, and it presents challenges for sampling the forage accurately. We hypothesized that day-to-day variation in forage neutral detergent fiber (FNDF) concentrations and diet variation caused by sampling error would have negative effects on production measures in lactating dairy cows. Twenty-four Holstein cows (73 d in milk) were used in 8 replicated 3 × 3 Latin squares with 21-d periods. Treatments were (1) control (CON), (2) variable (VAR), and (3) overreacting (ORR). On average, over the 21-d period, all 3 treatments were the same [24.7% FNDF and 48.2% forage dry matter (DM) composed of 67% alfalfa silage and 33% grass silage]. The CON treatment was essentially consistent day-to-day in total forage and FNDF concentrations and proportion of alfalfa and grass silages. The VAR treatment changed daily (in a random pattern) in proportion of alfalfa and grass silages fed, which resulted in day-to-day changes in FNDF (range was 21.5 to 28%). The ORR treatment varied in a 5-d cyclic pattern in total forage and FNDF concentrations (26, 24, 28, and 21.5% FNDF). Over the 21 d, ORR (25.1 kg/d) had higher DM intake compared with CON (24.5 kg/d) and VAR (24.3 kg/d). Milk production (42.8 kg/d), milk fat (3.5%), and milk protein (2.8%) were not affected by treatment; however, a treatment × day interaction was observed for milk production. Lower daily milk yields for VAR and ORR compared with CON were rare; they only followed sustained 4- and 5-d periods of feeding higher FNDF diets compared with CON. In contrast, increased daily milk yields for VAR and ORR versus CON were more frequent and followed sustained diet changes of only 2 or 3 d. Lipolytic and lipogenic-related enzyme mRNA abundances in subcutaneous adipose tissue were not affected by treatment. Treatment × day interactions were observed for milk fatty acid markers of cellulolytic bacteria (iso-14:0, iso-15:0, iso-16:0) and lipolysis (18:0) and generally followed the expected response to changes in daily rations. Overall, extreme daily fluctuations in FNDF had no cumulative negative effect on production measures over a 21-d period, and daily responses to transient increases in FNDF were less than expected.     

Variation in nutrients formulated and nutrients supplied on 5 California dairies

Computer models used in ration formulation assume that nutrients supplied by a ration formulation are the same as the nutrients presented in front of the cow in the final ration. Deviations in nutrients due to feed management effects such as dry matter changes (i.e., rain), loading, mixing, and delivery errors are assumed to not affect delivery of nutrients to the cow and her resulting milk production. To estimate how feed management affects nutrients supplied to the cow and milk production, and determine if nutrients can serve as indexes of feed management practices, weekly total mixed ration samples were collected and analyzed for 4 pens (close-up cows, fresh cows, high-milk-producing, and low-milk-producing cows, if available) for 7 to 12 wk on 5 commercial California dairies. Differences among nutrient analyses from these samples and nutrients from the formulated rations were analyzed by PROC MIXED of SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC). Milk fat and milk protein percentages did not vary as much [coefficient of variation (CV) = 18 to 33%] as milk yield (kg; CV = 16 to 47 %) across all dairies and pens. Variability in nutrients delivered were highest for macronutrient fat (CV = 22%), lignin (CV = 15%), and ash (CV = 11%) percentages and micronutrients Fe (mg/kg; CV = 48%), Na (%; CV = 42%), and Zn (mg/kg; CV = 38%) for the milking pens across all dairies. Partitioning of the variability in random effects of nutrients delivered and intraclass correlation coefficients showed that variability in lignin percentage of TMR had the highest correlation with variability in milk yield and milk fat percentage, followed by fat and crude protein percentages. But, variability in ash, fat, and lignin percentages of total mixed ration had the highest correlation with variability in milk protein percentage. Therefore, lignin, fat, and ash may be the best indices of feed management to include effects of variability in nutrients on variability in milk yield, milk fat, and milk protein percentages in ration formulation models.     

荧光-化学计量学法快速检测牛奶中磺胺甲基异恶唑残留

食品中抗生素的残留威胁着消费者的健康。目前用于食品中抗生素残留的检测方法通常经过复杂的预处理、耗时繁琐,而荧光检测具有快速、灵敏度高的特点。本文旨在利用荧光-化学计量学方法建立牛奶中磺胺类抗生素残留的快速检测方法,应用所建立的校正模型对6个品牌共14种商业巴氏奶和UHT奶（包括全脂奶、脱脂奶、半脱脂、高钙）的未知样品进行预测,结果表明,偏最小二乘-判别法（PLS-DA）模型能准确地区分磺胺甲基异恶唑最大残留量上下的样品,假阴性的概率为3.12%,远小于欧盟规定的5%。偏最小二乘法（PLS）法对样品进行定量测定时,在0～210μg/L范围内有良好的线性关系,相关系数为0.9992,样品的回收率可达到87.9%～131.6%,方法的检测限（CCα）为2.54μg/L,定量限（CCβ）为5.07μg/L,平均相对标准偏差为3.24%。该方法可应用于液态乳中磺胺甲基异恶唑残留的快速检测。      

紫苏乳饮料的制备及稳定性研究

通过稳定剂与乳化剂筛选与复配,确定紫苏叶乳饮料稳定体系的影响因素。采用单因素实验选取黄原胶、果胶（JMJ）、羧甲基纤维素钠（CMC-Na）、明胶、BE-3和卡拉胶6种稳定剂,以沉淀率为指标分析其稳定性;并通过L9（34）正交实验,复配最优稳定剂;通过悬浮稳定性测定,从单硬脂酸甘油酯、蔗糖酯等4种乳化剂中筛选出两种进行乳化剂复配,经Turbiscan检测分析产品体系稳定效果。结果表明,牛奶添加量30%,紫苏叶汁30%,蔗糖5%,蜂蜜2%,水32.17%的紫苏叶乳饮料,经（55±2）℃、（15±2）MPa下均质、95℃下杀菌5min的工艺条件下,优化出果胶0.35%、明胶0.35%和CMC-Na0.05%复合稳定剂;蔗糖酯∶单硬脂酸甘油酯=7∶3的复合乳化剂配比,总添加量为0.08%时,乳体系稳定效果最优。      

超声波对原料乳灭菌效果的研究

非热杀菌技术由于能够较好得保存食品的营养性,提高食品品质,近年来成为研究热点.采用40 kHz超声波对原料乳进行杀菌,证实超声波对原料乳中的微生物有杀灭效果,确定了最佳的超声杀菌条件为:温度60℃,时间200 s,间歇比5∶2.与巴氏杀菌相比,超声杀菌在短时间内可以达到理想的杀菌效果;且原料乳在储藏期间内的稳定性优于巴氏杀菌乳.     

增稠剂对发酵酸豆乳品质的影响

酸豆乳作为植物性蛋白食品越来越受到消费者的欢迎。为了改善发酵豆乳析水或稀薄等缺陷,保证酸豆乳的稳定性,使其以优良的品质迎合人们的需要,采用单因素试验研究了黄原胶、明胶、羧甲基纤维素钠(CMC)、卡拉胶对发酵酸豆乳品质的影响,并采用{3,2}单纯格子设计法对明胶、羧甲基纤维素钠(CMC)、黄原胶3种增稠剂进行复配试验。通过检测其硬度、黏性、持水力并结合感官评价,得到较好的增稠剂配比。结果表明,3种增稠剂添加总量为0.4%,其中明胶、羧甲基纤维素钠(CMC)和黄原胶的质量比为1∶0.89∶1.06时,酸豆乳的品质优良。结果表明,增稠剂复配对提高发酵酸豆乳的稳定性具有重要作用。     

不同加热条件下牛乳美拉德反应程度的研究

牛乳热处理过程中乳糖与蛋白质会发生美拉德反应,使牛乳的色泽、风味、营养等发生变化。本研究通过对影响牛乳褐变的主要因素的研究,即温度、时间和加糖量,探索不同热处理强度以及添加蔗糖、葡萄糖对美拉德反应程度的影响,包括色值、酸度、中间产物(羟甲基糠醛)和风味的变化。研究表明:加葡萄糖比不加糖和加蔗糖对牛乳样品美拉德反应程度影响显著(P0.05);加热温度越高,加热时间越长,其颜色变化越大,添加葡萄糖的样品在121℃加热25 min,其b*值从3.44上升到27.57;p H随温度升高,时间延长呈显著性下降(P0.05);中间产物随加热时间的延长表现为先下降后上升的趋势;电子鼻结果表明加热强度对牛乳含硫、含氮化合物,以及烷烃类、醇类和芳香类物质等风味组成会产生影响。