Effects of rumen‐protected pantothenate supplementation on lactation performance, ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestion and blood metabolites in dairy cows

Abstract BACKGROUND Lactation performance of dairy cow has considerably increased with animal breeding and management improvement in recent years. Ruminal net synthesised pantothenic acid is insufficient to meet the requirement of high producing dairy cows. The objective was to investigate the effects of rumen‐protected pantothenate (RPP) on lactation performance, ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestion and blood metabolites in dairy cows. RESULTS Dry matter (DM) intake tended to increase, whereas milk yields, milk fat percentage and yield, body condition score (BCS) changes and net energy output except for maintenance increased linearly with increasing RPP supplementation. Ruminal pH and ammonia N concentration tended to decrease, total VFA tended to increase, while acetate‐to‐propionate ratio increased linearly with increasing RPP supplementation. Digestibilities of DM, organic matter and crude protein increased linearly, but neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre digestibility tended to increase. Blood glucose, total protein, non‐esterified fatty acids, pantothenic acid, pantothenate kinase, succinyl CoA, acyl carrier protein and acetyl CoA also increased linearly with increasing RPP supplementation. CONCLUSION The results indicated that supplementary RPP improved lactation performance, nutrient digestion and blood parameters in a dose‐dependent manner, and the optimal dose was 12 g RPP per cow per day in the current study. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry