Vitamin and mineral supplementation and rate of weight gain during the first trimester of gestation in beef heifers alters the fetal liver amino acid, carbohydrate, and energy profile at day 83 of gestation

Authors: Crouse, Matthew; MCCARTHY, KACIE - University Of Nebraska; MENEZES, ANA CLARA - North Dakota State University; KASSETAS, CIERRAH - North Dakota State University; BAUMGAERTNER, FRIEDERIKE - North Dakota State University; KIRSCH, JAMES - North Dakota State University; DORSAM, SHERI - North Dakota State University; NEVILLE, TAMMI - North Dakota State University; WARD, ALISON - North Dakota State University; BOROWICZ, PAWEL - North Dakota State University; REYNOLDS, LAWRENCE - North Dakota State University; SEDIVEC, KEVIN - North Dakota State University; FORCHERIO, J - Purina; SCOTT, RONALD - Purina; CATON, JOEL - North Dakota State University; DAHLEN, CARL - North Dakota State University

Submitted to: Metabolites
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/23/2022
Publication Date: 7/27/2022
Citation: Crouse, M.S., McCarthy, K.L., Menezes, A.C.B., Kassetas, C.J., Baumgaertner, F., Kirsch, J.D., Dorsam, S., Neville, T.L., Ward, A.K., Borowicz, P.P., Reynolds, L.P., Sedivec, K.K., Forcherio, J.C., Scott, R., Caton, J.S., Dahlen, C.R. 2022. Vitamin and mineral supplementation and rate of weight gain during the first trimester of gestation in beef heifers alters the fetal liver amino acid, carbohydrate, and energy profile at day 83 of gestation. Metabolites. 12. Article 696. https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12080696.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo12080696

Interpretive Summary: Early gestation nutrition in beef cattle has typically been overlooked due to the thought that requirements for gestation during this time either did not exceed the requirements for animal maintenance or were too small to effectively measure. Furthermore, on average, only 50% of producers provide a complete mineral or trace mineral salt to their cows during the spring/summer. Therefore, we tested whether heifers fed to grow at a low (0.28 kg/d gain) or moderate (0.79 kg/d gain) rate and either supplemented or not supplemented with a vitamin and mineral supplement during the first 83 days of gestation demonstrated altered fetal metabolism. The results indicate that heifers on the low gain treatment which did not receive supplemental vitamins/minerals (NOVTM-LG) had a greater flux of amino acids to the fetus than those on the moderate gain treatment, or that fetuses from NOVTM-LG heifers had decreased metabolic activity. Further work would be needed to determine whether this is due to fetal storing of nutrients or if this is due to an increased transfer of amino acids from the dam in response to decreased nutrient availability in an effort to maintain pregnancy.

Technical Abstract: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding heifers a vitamin and mineral supplement and targeting divergent rates of weight gain during early gestation on the fetal liver amino acid, carbohydrate, and energy profile at d 83 of gestation. Seventy-two crossbred Angus heifers were randomly assigned in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement to one of four treatments com-prising the main effects of vitamin and mineral supplementation (VTM or NOVTM) and feeding to achieve different rates of weight gain (low gain [LG] 0.28 kg/d), vs. moderate gain [MG] 0.79 kg/d). Thirty-five gestating heifers with female fetuses were ovariohysterectomized on d 83 of gestation and fetal liver was collected and analyzed by reverse phase UPLC-tandem mass spectrometry with positive and negative ion mode electrospray ionization, as well as by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography UPLC-MS/MS with negative ion mode ESI for compounds of known identity. The Glycine, Serine, and Threonine metabolism pathway and the Leucine, Isoleucine, and Valine me-tabolism pathway had a greater total metabolite abundance in the liver of the NOVTM-LG group and least in the VTM-LG group (p < 0.01). Finally, both the TCA Cycle and Oxidative Phosphory-lation pathways within the Energy Metabolism superpathway were differentially affected by the main effect of VTM, where the TCA cycle metabolites were greater (p = 0.04) in the NOVTM fetal livers and the Oxidative Phosphorylation biochemicals were greater (p = 0.02) in the fetal livers of the VTM supplemented heifers. These data demonstrate that the majority of metabolites that are affected by rate of weight gain or vitamin/mineral supplementation are decreased in heifers on a greater rate of weight gain or vitamin/mineral supplementation.