Calcium salts of polyunsaturated fatty acids deliver more essential fatty acids to the lactating dairy cow

Recent research has focused on the importance of supplying essential fatty acids to the lactating dairy cow. The addition of essential fatty acids, specifically linoleic and linolenic acid, to dairy cow diets has been investigated as a method to increase reproductive efficiency. Rumen bacteria, however, biohydrogenate polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) to saturated fatty acids. This is an important issue because it can also lead to milk fat depression when unsaturated fatty acids are fed. The formation of Ca salts has previously been shown to partially protect unsaturated fatty acids from rumen biohydrogenation. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate feed intake, milk production, and milk composition of cows fed Ca salts of palm fatty acids (CS) compared with those fed Ca salts of palm fatty acids with an increased content of PUFA (CS+PUFA). Nineteen lactating Holstein cows were used in a switchback experiment to determine any differences between CS and CS+PUFA on milk production and composition. This experiment consisted of 3 consecutive periods of 14 d. Treatments were formulated to provide 450 g/d (dry matter basis) of the Ca salt supplement and were mixed with the same basal ration. Milk weights and feed intakes were recorded daily for each cow. Milk samples were collected the last 2 d of each period and analyzed for milk composition and fatty acids. Dry matter intake 28.0 vs. 27.0 kg/d; standard error of the mean (SEM) = 0.4] and milk production (44.4 vs. 44.0 kg/d; SEM = 0.7) were not different between treatments for CS and CS+PUFA, respectively. Milk fat percentage (3.34 vs. 3.22%; SEM = 0.07) and milk protein percentage (2.78 vs. 2.80%; SEM = 0.01) were not different for CS- and CS+PUFA-fed cows. Feeding CS+PUFA reduced the concentration of palmitic acid in milk fat (28.3 vs. 26.8 wt%; SEM = 0.3). Supplementation of CS+PUFA increased the linoleic acid concentration (3.96 vs. 4.61 wt%; SEM = 0.1) of milk fat, indicating that linoleic acid was partially protected from rumen biohydrogenation. Concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid were also increased (0.44 vs. 0.52 wt%; SEM = 0.02) when cows consumed CS+PUFA, indicating that some biohydrogenation did occur. Supplementing CS+PUFA did not alter milk production, milk fat percentage, or dry matter intake when compared with CS. The CS+PUFA supplement supplied more linoleic acid to the small intestine for milk fat synthesis.