Björn Kuhla

Research Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN) | FBN

The milk replacer feeding regime in dairy calves has a great impact on metabolic and immunological functioning and affects animal welfare and lifetime performance. The feeding regime influences the rumen microbial composition, and epithelium-associated microbes may interact with the immune system of the host. We examined the correlations between bl...

Tree leaves are widely established as N-rich feed supplement in extensive cattle farming. However, the effects of willow (Salix spp.) leaves and containing plant secondary metabolites (PSM) on rumen microbes and total tract digestibility have not been investigated. The aim of this study was to identify rumen microbes associated with ruminal NH3 con...

Climate change with increasing ambient temperatures negatively influences the biology of dairy cows and their milk production in the mammary gland (MG). This study aimed to elucidate the MG proteome, differences in milk composition, and ruminal short-chain fatty acid concentrations of dairy cows experiencing 7 days of heat stress [HS, 28 °C, temper...

The milk replacer feeding regime in dairy calves has a great impact on metabolic and immunological functioning and affects animal welfare and lifetime performance. The feeding regime influences the rumen microbial composition, and epithelium-associated microbes may interact with the immune system of the host. We examined the correlations between bl...

lchkühe sind in ihren offenen und halboffenen Haltungssystemen direkt den Auswirkungen des Klimawandels ausgesetzt. Steigende Umgebungstemp-eraturen und Hitzewellen verursachen Hitzestress und stellen eine ernstzu-nehmende Bedrohung für die Tierge-sundheit dar. Zur Verringerung der endogenen und fermentativen Wärmebelastung erhö-hen Milchkühe die A...

Fodder trees and shrubs are widely established in extensive livestock systems. Phenolic compounds in the leaves may act as natural antioxidants. For example, supplementation with hazel leaves was shown to improve the anti-oxidative status and reduce the susceptibility to inflammatory processes in sheep [1]. Furthermore, willow bark extract is used...

Milk urea (MU) concentration is proposed as an indicator trait for breeding toward reduced nitrogen (N) emissions and leaching in dairy. We selected 20 German Holstein cows based on MU breeding values, with 10 cows each having low (LMUg) and high (HMUg) MU genetic predisposition. Using RNA-seq, we characterized these cows to unravel molecular pathw...

The milk urea concentration (MUC) serves as indicator of urinary nitrogen emissions, but at comparable crude protein (CP) intake, cows with high (HMU) and low (LMU) MUC excrete equal urea amounts. We hypothesized that urea and uric acid transporters and sizes of the kidney, mammary gland, and rumen account for these phenotypes. Eighteen HMU and 18...

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of N-arachidonoylethanolamide (AEA), an endocannabinoid with orexigenic characteristics, on plasma endocannabinoid concentrations, feed intake, energy balance, lipomobilisation, and hepatic lipid metabolism of early-lactating dairy cows. The experiment involved 10 pairs of Holstein half-sibling cow...

Background Nutrition has not only an impact on the general wellbeing of an animal but can also affect reproductive processes. In cattle, feeding regimes can influence the age of puberty onset and alter gonadal development. We analyzed effects of different milk replacer (MR) feeding regimes during rearing on ovarian physiology with specific emphasis...

In contracting muscles, carbohydrates and fatty acids serve as energy substrates; the predominant utilization depends on the workload. Here, we investigated the contribution of non-mitochondrial and mitochondrial metabolic pathways in response to repeated training in a polygenic, paternally selected marathon mouse model (DUhTP), characterized by ex...

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is involved in the regulation of fat and energy metabolism, but knowledge about its influence in early lactation of cows is scarce. The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of N -arachidonoylethanolamide (AEA), an endocannabinoid with orexigenic characteristics, on plasma endocannabinoid concentrations, fe...

Fistulation is a helpful procedure in animal nutritional research and also common practise in human medicine. However, there are indications that alterations in the upper gastrointestinal tract contribute to intestinal immune modulations. The present study aimed to investigate effects of a rumen cannulation in week 3 of life on the intestinal and t...

The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of intraperitoneal N-arachidonoylethanolamide (AEA) on taste preference for feed and water, tongue taste receptor signalling (TAS1R2, GNAT3), and endocannabinoid (CNR1, CNR2, GPR55) and opioid (OPRD1, OPRK1, OPRM1, OPRL1) receptors in the amygdala and nucleus accumbens in periparturient cows. We...

Ambient temperatures have considerable influence on dairy cows causing a reduction in feed intake and milk yield. Feed intake and diet composition are the main factors influencing ruminal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations, the latter in turn may influence milk composition. However, the link between SCFA production and milk composition du...

High ambient temperatures and humidity are significant environmental stressors compromising animal health, along with a reduction in feed intake, milk production and alterations of the immune system. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) are composed of monocytes, natural killer cells, B and T cells, all involved in various immunological functi...

Heat stress negatively affects the metabolism and physiology of the bovine gut. However, it is not known whether heat stress induces an inflammatory response in mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN), the primary origin of gut immune cells, and thus contributes to inflammatory processes in the circulation. Therefore, our objective was to elucidate the effect...

Milk urea concentration is an indicator for dietary nitrogen (N)-supply and urinary N-excretion. Dairy cows with high (HMU) compared to low milk urea (LMU) concentration have greater plasma urea, creatinine and uric acid concentrations, but if the liver metabolism accounts for these differences is unknown. Eighteen HMU and 18 LMU cows were fed a di...

• We aimed to establish common guidelines for experimental studies with cattle. • A book on “Methods in cattle physiology and behaviour research” was published. • The book is designed as an open-access living handbook and is open to everyone. • Citing the book saves space and avoids repetitions in scientific journals. • Referencing guidelines reduc...

Introduction. The gut microbiota plays a pivotal role in animal health and in the development of diseases. External environmental effects, e.g. ambient temperature, antibiotics, and nutrients modify living conditions for gut microbes. However, it is not known whether high ambient temperatures causing heat stress possess the capability to disturb th...

Milk urea concentration is an indicator for dietary nitrogen (N)-supply and urinary N-excretion. Dairy cows with high (HMU) compared to low milk urea (LMU) concentration have greater plasma urea, creatinine and uric acid concentrations, but if the liver metabolism accounts for these differences is unknown. Eighteen HMU and 18 LMU cows were fed a di...

Direct measurements of methane (CH4) from individual animals are difficult and expensive. Predictions based on proxies for CH4 are a viable alternative. Most prediction models are based on multiple linear regressions (MLR) and predictor variables that are not routinely available in commercial farms, such as dry matter intake (DMI) and diet composit...

Among the endocannabinoids, N-arachidonylethanolamide (AEA; anandamide) plays a key role in regulating energy homeostasis and energy intake. Recent studies suggest the existence of a peripheral mechanism by which AEA increases feed intake in the short term and modulates whole-body energy metabolism in dairy cows. Here, we aimed to test the hypothes...

Environmentally induced hyperthermia jeopardizes farm animal health, among others by compromising the immune system. Leucocytes are important immune cells, which respond to hyperthermia by increasing heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) expression. HSP70 has been shown to inhibit the translocation of the transcription factor nuclear factor !B p65 (NF !B p...

The composition of breast milk is influenced by maternal nutrition and plays a pivotal role in offspring development. Among others, milk oligosaccharides (OS) promote the growth of beneficial intestinal bacteria, modulate host-epithelial immune response, and prevent pathogen adhesion. Prebiotics are indigestible dietary fiber to the host, serve as...

Endocannabinoids, particularly anandamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), are instrumental in regulating energy homeostasis and stress response. However, little is known about the endocannabinoid system (ECS) in ruminants, although EC could improve dairy health and productivity, at least by increasing feed intake. In this study, we report...

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a pivotal role in the complex control and regulation of food intake. Pharmacological ECS activation could improve health in energy-deficient stages by increasing food intake, at least in intermittent feeders. However, knowledge of the mechanism regulating appetite in species with continued nutrient delivery is...

Excreted nitrogen (N) of dairy cows contribute to environmental eutrophication. The main N-excretory metabolite of dairy cows is urea, which is synthesized as a result of N-metabolization in the liver and is excreted via milk and urine. Genetic variation in milk urea (MU) has been postulated but the complex physiology behind the trait as well as th...

Prebiotic supplements and high-protein (HP) diets reduce body weight and modulate intestinal microbiota. Our aim was to elucidate the combined effect of an inulin/oligofructose (FOS) and HP diet on body weight gain, energy metabolism and faecal microbiota. Forty male C57BL/6NCrl mice were fed a control (C) diet for 2 weeks and allocated to a C or H...

Climate change affects the duration and intensity of heat waves during summer months and jeopardizes animal health and welfare. High ambient temperatures cause heat stress in dairy cows resulting in a reduction of milk yield, feed intake, and alterations in gut barrier function. The objectives of this study were to investigate the mucosal amino aci...

Intensified milk replacer (MR) feeding in calves has nutritional long-term effects and is suggested to increase milk production later in life. However, the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. The aim of our study was to investigate whether MR feeding intensity has long-term effects on energy metabolism and energy use efficiency of...

The environmental pollution of phosphorus (P) from livestock farming is becoming increasingly problematic especially with regard to dwindling global P resources. Thus, a more sustainable handling of P resources, including improvements in P use efficiency and a reduction of P loss from farm animals is necessary. Dairy cows may differ in milk P yield...

Ammonia emissions have wide-ranging negative consequences for human, animal and environmental health. Regulations including EU Directive 2016/2284 require European Union member states to reduce emissions. Dairy farming has one of the highest levels of ammonia emissions. Most dairy barns in Germany are naturally ventilated to meet higher animal welf...

This paper reviews existing on-farm GHG accounting models for dairy cattle systems and their ability to capture the effect of dietary strategies in GHG abatement. The focus is on methane (CH4) emissions from enteric and manure (animal excreta) sources and nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions from animal excreta. We identified three generic modelling appro...

Knowledge about dry matter intake (DMI) is a very important element in cattle management. Modern, high producing dairy cows require great amount of feed in order to meet the nutrient and energy requirements for maintenance and milk production, particularly during early lactation. In beef animals, current breeding strategies aim to select animals wi...

Respiratory Chambers (RCs) were originally constructed with the purpose to study heat production from animals by quantifying oxygen (O2) consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) production (initially detailed in the 18th century by Lavoisier and Leplace; for the history of calorimetry, see McLean and Tobin [1]. Enteric methane (CH4) is measured in calo...

The nutritional value of a feed for cattle depends on its nutrient and energy contents, the extent of rumen fermentation and degradation, and the post-ruminal digestibility. Different methods at the in vivo, in vitro or in situ level are available to measure the digestibility of nutrients. The total collection method in vivo, also known as a conven...

BACKGROUND A robust proxy for estimating methane (CH4) emissions of individual dairy cows would be valuable especially for selective breeding. This study aimed to improve the robustness and accuracy of prediction models that estimate daily CH4 emissions from milk Fourier transform mid‐infrared (FT‐MIR) spectra by (i) increasing the reference datase...

High ambient temperatures cause heat stress in dairy cows resulting in a reduction of milk yield, feed intake, and alterations in whole-body protein metabolism. Whether the intestine is involved in the adaptation of whole-body amino acid metabolism during heat stress is not known. Glutamine and glucose serve as main energy sources for enterocytes a...

Urine and fecal excretions from cattle contributing to global nitrogen (N) emissions. The milk urea nitrogen (MUN) concentration in dairy cows is positively correlated with urinary urea N (UUN) emissions, and both decline with the reduction in crude protein intake. However, MUN concentration may differ between individual cows despite feeding the sa...

Archaeol is a cell membrane lipid of methanogenic archaea excreted in feces and is therefore a potential biomarker for individual methane emission (MEM). The aims of this study were to examine the potential of the fecal archaeol concentration (fArch) to be a proxy for MEM prediction in cows fed different diets and determine if the time of fecal col...

Global warming and accompanying high ambient temperatures reduce feed intake of dairy cows and shift the blood flow from the core of the body to the periphery. As a result, hypoxia may occur in the digestive tract accompanied by disruption of the intestinal barrier, local endotoxemia and inflammation, and altered nutrient absorption. However, wheth...

Background: Transformation of feed energy ingested by ruminants into milk is accompanied by energy losses via fecal and urine excretions, fermentation gases and heat. Heat production may differ among dairy cows despite comparable milk yield and body weight. Therefore, heat production can be considered an indicator of metabolic efficiency and direct...

A growing need exists for the development of practical feeding strategies to mitigate methane (CH4) emissions from cattle. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of milk replacer feeding intensity (MFI) in calves on CH4 emission, rumen development, and performance. Twenty-eight female newborn Holstein calves were rando...

Einfluss einer maternalen Supplementierung mit 10% Inulin/FOS zu einer Hochfett-oder Hochproteindiät in Mäusen auf den Trächtigkeitsverlauf und die Entwicklung der Nachkommen F Koch1; M Langhammer2; E Wytrwat2; A Tuchscherer2; HM Hammon1; M Mielenz1; B Kuhla1; CC Metges1 1Institute of Nutritional Physiology "Oskar Kellner", Nutritional imbalances o...

Impact of a maternal supplementation of 10% inulin/FOS to a high-protein or high-fat diet during pregnancy and lactation in mice on body weight gain, glucose tolerance, mammary gland development and offspring body weight

This book provides an inventory of guidelines for different recordings in an experimental unit. The chapters of this book will encompass methods that deal with measuring different metabolic, digestive, anatomic and behavioural traits in cattle. The experimental methods have been divided into two main categories: a) routine measurements, conducted i...

Background: Cys is limiting for reduced glutathione (GSH) synthesis and can be synthesized from Met. We hypothesized that the dietary Met hydroxyl analogue dl-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid (dl-HMTBA) affects Cys and GSH metabolism and oxidative stress defense differently than Met. Objective: The objective was to elucidate whether dl-HMTBA s...

Partners in Expert Working Group WG2 of the COST Action METHAGENE have used several methods for measuring methane output by individual dairy cattle under various environmental conditions. Methods included respiration chambers, the sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) tracer technique, breath sampling during milking or feeding, the GreenFeed system, and the l...

Dairy cows experience a negative energy balance due to increasing energy demands and insufficient voluntary feed intake in the transition from late pregnancy to early lactation. For supplying sufficient energy toward the conceptus and the mammary gland, insulin sensitivity in peripheral tissues is reduced leading to adipose tissue mobilization. Adi...

The present invention relates to a method for predicting the methane (CH4) emission of a dairy cow comprising: a) determining the total amount of milk of a dairy cow per one day; b) determining the energy corrected milk value (ECM) of the milk of the dairy cow of the same day as in a); c) determining the percentage amount of saturated fatty acids (...

The use of machine learning (ML) algorithms in predictive modelling of CH 4 emission from heterogeneous across-country datasets containing missing or imputed data-points is rarely reported. The objective was to use ML ensemble algorithms to predict CH 4 output and assess the effects of imputation on within and between-herd prediction accuracies. Da...

The endocannabinoids N-arachidonylethanolamide (AEA) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) participate in the control of feed intake and energy metabolism. Most mammals increase their feed intake after parturition to cope with the increased energy and nutrient requirements for milk synthesis, thereby increasing their metabolic rate. Here we investigate...

Significance Consequences of heat stress, particularly for the immune system and the intestinal health of mammals, are a topic of increasing global relevance due to rising temperatures and potential health impairments. Specific climate effects, however, are often difficult to discriminate from indirect consequences, e.g. reduced feed intake. Our st...

The variation in feed efficiency among dairy cows is due to differences in fermentation and digestion characteristics, but recent studies have suggested that various aspects of postabsorptive metabolic processes including heat production or the metabolizable energy for maintenance are more crucial. Thus, metabolic efficiency largely determines feed...

Background: DL-2-hydroxy-4-methylthiobutyric acid (DL-HMTBA), an L-methionine (L-Met) hydroxyl analogue, has been suggested to be a dietary L-Met source. How dietary DL-HMTBA compared with L-Met affects whole-body L-Met kinetics in growing individuals is unknown. Objectives: We determined to what extent DL-HMTBA supplementation of an L-Met-defic...

Milk fatty acids (MFA) are a proxy for the prediction of CH4 emission from cows, and prediction differs with diet. Our objectives were (1) to compare the effect of diets on the relation between MFA profile and measured CH4 production, (2) to predict CH4 production based on 6 data sets differing in the number and type of MFA, and (3) to test whether...

The pressure-based noseband sensor system (RWS: RumiWatch System; ITIN + HOCH GmbH Feeding Technology, Liestal, Switzerland) has recently been validated for the measurement of rumination time in mature cows. We aimed in this study at developing a similar pressure-based system for monitoring rumination in young dairy calves. To this end, a vegetable...

High temperatures jeopardize animal welfare of dairy cows. During periods of hot weather, leaky gut syndrome, characterized by impaired gut integrity, may occur. Diminished intestinal barrier facilitates penetration of toxic and bacterial compounds, leading to increased inflammation in jejunum and reflected by increased appearance of immune cells....

Feed efficiency (FE) is a measure of the rate between feed intake and body weight gain and is subject to constant progress in pigs, based on extensive performance tests and analyses of physiological parameters. However, endocrine regulatory circuits which comprise the sensation and perception of intrinsic requirements and appropriate systemic respo...

Ruminant enteric methane emission contributes to global warming. Although breeding low methane-emitting cows appears to be possible through genetic selection, doing so requires methane emission quantification by using elaborate instrumentation (respiration chambers, SF6 technique, GreenFeed) not feasible on a large scale. It has been suggested that...

In the last decade, various applications of gaseous exchange measurements have been developed to quantify the production or consumption of particular gases by animals. Notably, booming research into methane emissions has led to an expansion of the number of facilities in which such measurements are made. Results of a ring test calibration of respir...

Increasing the dietary fat content of ruminant diets decreases methane (CH4) production. This effect is caused by the toxic properties of fatty acids on rumen microbial populations, coating of feed particles diminishing the accessibility for microbes, and a reduction in dry matter intake (DMI). The latter effect is caused by postabsorptive long-cha...