Optimum Vitamin Nutrition Concept

Dr. Irmgard Immig

Global Category Manager Ruminants - Generente Global de Ruminantes

DSM Nutritional Products, Kaiseraugst (Switzerland)

Dairy cows

Cows and their nutritional requirements changed tremendously over the last 200 years

2,000

0

1800 1900 2000

Milk

pro

du

ctio

n (kg/c

ow

/ye

ar)

4,000

6,000

8,000

10,000

12,000

Year

Feed conservation technology

Corn silage

Concentrate feeding

Feed additives, minerals, vitamins

Breeding programs

AL, ET, Sire evaluation

Winter feeding

Milk performance testing

Breeders association

Health services

26%

16% 19%

23%

16%

Reproductiveproblems

Poor production

Others

Mastitis/Udder

Lameness

Dairy cows (%) culled for slaughter by reason for

culling (USDA, 2007)

More than 80% of the dairy cows are removed because feeding does not match their

nutrient requirements.

Challenges on dairy cows under intensive

production conditions

Vitamin Deficiencies?

Vitamins: Definitions and functions

Vitamins

• Are essential micronutrients, required for optimum health

and normal physiological functions such as growth,

development, maintenance and reproduction.

• Cannot be synthesized by the animals and must be fed

(exception vit C)

• Have catalytic functions; they facilitate synthesis &

degradation of the nutrients & control the metabolism.

• Are classified into two groups:

• Fat-soluble (4): A (retinol), D (calciferols),

E (tocopherols), K (phylloquinone)

• Water soluble (9): B1 (thiamin), B2 (riboflavin), B6

(pyridoxine), B12 (cobalamin), niacin (vitamin PP),

pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), folic acid (vitamin M),

biotin (vitamin H), vitamin C (ascorbic acid).

Vitamin A

Vitamin C

Consequences of insufficient dietary supply of vitamins

Temporary or chronic undersupply

• Animals suffer from subclinical deficiency, impacting

on performance, health and welfare.

Clinical vitamin deficiency

• Growth depression, deterioration of feed conversion,

irreversible serious disorders of various origin

• Can lead to death of the affected animal

Vitamin

Demand

Housing

Conditions

Genetics/

Breed

Feed

Composition

Life Stage

Performance

Stress

Infectious

Pressure

Temperature

/Humidity

Factors influencing vitamin requirements

Optimum Vitamin Nutrition (OVNTM) is about feeding animals high quality vitamins in the right amounts and

ratios appropriate to their life stage and growing conditions.

Optimum Vitamin Nutrition is cost-effective optimizing

• Animal Health and Welfare

• Performance

• Quality and Nutritional Value of Animal-origin Foods

The OVN™ Concept

Visible vitamin deficiencies Fat soluble Vitamins – Vitamins E & D

Vitamin E- deficiency

Muscle dystrophy

Vitamin D deficiency

Rickets

Not so obvious vitamin deficiencies Water soluble vitamins: Biotin

Biotin - deficiency

Hoof disorders

Biotin - deficiency

Suboptimal milk yield

Page

Effect of ROVIMIX® Biotin on monthly incidence of lameness in pasture fed dairy cows

Source: Fitzgerald et al., 2000

Period of heavy rains and high number

of wet days per month

Page

Effect of ROVIMIX® Biotin supplementation of pasture fed cows on hoof disorders

Source: Fitzgerald et al., 2000

* p<0.05

ROVIMIX® Biotin The mortar that binds hoof horn cells together

Structure of the hoof horn without

ROVIMIX® Biotin

Structure of the hoof horn with

ROVIMIX® Biotin

10 months later

Level of signifi cance at least p<0.05

Effect of ROVIMIX® Biotin increases milk

production in high yielding dairy cows

36,9 37,2 37,2

41,6 42,3

39,7 39,2 38,9

44,5 44,2

30

32

34

36

38

40

42

44

46

Zimmerly andWeiss, 2001

Margerison et al.,2001

Majee et al., 2003 Ferreria et al., 2007 Enjalbert et al.,2008

Milk p

roducti

on k

g/d

Control ROVIMIX® Biotin

Results from a series of research trials in Europe and the USA show that ROVIMIX® Biotin

increases milk production in high yielding dairy cows by > 2 kg/cow/d

Effect of close up period on vitamin levels in plasma of dairy cows

0

0,5

1

1,5

2

2,5

3

4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Concentr

ati

on in p

lasm

a

Weeks before calving

ß-Carotene

Vitamin A

Vitamin E

Weeks after calving

Source: Schweigert 1990

0,00

0,50

1,00

1,50

2,00

2,50

3,00

3,50

-3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3

ß-C

aro

tene m

g/L

Weeks prior/after calving

Ovulatory cows Anovulatory cows

***

*** ***

*

Source: Kawashida et al., 2009

The close-up period is one of the most critical periods in the life of dairy

cows, vitamin deficiencies are not visible but have a strong effect on the

next lactation and fertility

Page

Targeted supplementation in a ß-Carotene deficient herd...

Dead Fetus Days to

1st oestrus

Control 10 79a

300 mg/d 0 76a

500 mg/d 0 71b

...alleviates the drop in

ß-Carotene levels before calving...

...reduces aborts and days to

1st oestrus

Source: (Bian et al. 2007)

0,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

21 7 10 60

ß-C

aro

tene μ

g/m

l

Control 300 mg/cow/g 500 mg/cow/d

Calving

(Weiss et al., 1997)

4

3.5

3

2.5

2

1

0

-60 -50 -40 -30 20 30 40 50 60

Days pre calving and post calving

NRC recommended

minimum plasma level to

optimize immune function

Cows with low vitamin E concentration have a pronounced mastitis risk

Calving

-20 -10 0 10

Pla

sma α

-tocophero

l (m

g/l)

Serum levels of vitamin E in cows 30 days prepartum should exceed 5.4 mg/l, to have

a 90% chance of staying above marginal levels at calving (Meglia et al., 2004)

ROVIMIX® E supplementation reduces the

prevalence of clinical mastitis of dairy cows

at parturition

40

30

20

b

10

Parity 1 Parity > 1

a, b, c differ: p < 0.05: A, B differ: p < 0.05

Medium High

a

A A

B

Low

(Weiss et al., 1997)

Clinic

al m

ast

itis

(% q

uart

ers

infe

cte

d)

Treatment:

Vitamin E

Dry

period

Lactation

Low 100 mg/d 100 mg/d

Medium 1000 mg/d 500 mg/d

High 1000 mg/d

4000 mg/d

for

for

46

14

d

d

2000 mg/d

0 c

ROVIMIX® E and Se reduce the duration of clinical mastitis symptoms

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 Control

a

Selenium

b

Vitamin E

b

Vitamin E

+ Se

b

(Smith et al., 1984)

a, b differ: p < 0.05

Duration of clinical symptoms was reduced by 46% for the selenium group, 44% for the

vitamin E group, and 62% for the vitamin E-selenium group compared with the control

Treatments:

Vitamin E 1000 mg Vitamin E/

animal/day during dry

period

Selenium Injection of 0.1 mg Se/kg

BW on d 21 pre-calving

Month

s clinic

al per

quart

er

lacta

ting

OVN™ Solutions Our Package for Optimum Lifetime Performance in Dairy Cows

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Milk y

ield

(kg/d

)

Early lactation Middle–late lactation Dry period

Lactation

Yield/Composition/FCR Fertility/Udder Health

Ca-Metabolism

Reproduction

ROVIMIX® Biotin + ROVIMIX® AD3 E + CRINA® Ruminants + Tortuga Minerals

ROVIMIX® ß-Carotene

ROVIMIX® Hy•D

ROVIMIX® ß-Carotene

ROVIMIX® Niacin

RONOZYME® RumiStar®

Persistancy/Body Stores

• Recent research on vitamin requirement of modern farm animals is limited and

may underestimate the actual needs of ruminants

• Clinical/subclinical vitamin deficiency still occur:

• optimum vitamin supplementation prevents from deficiency and helps to

exploit the genetic potential of the animals.

• Superior dietary supplementation levels of certain vitamins do provide

additional value, such as improved stress and disease resistance, adequate

welfare and/or better product quality.

The OVN™ Concept: Summary