Milk Production and Energetic Metabolism of Heat-Stressed Dairy Goats Supplemented with Propylene Glycol

Heat-stressed dairy animals increase their reliance on glucose. This elevated glucose demand is partially met by increasing the conversion of glucogenic amino acids (AA) in the liver. Propylene glycol (PG) is a glucogenic precursor and was not tested in dairy goats under thermoneutral (TN) and heat stress (HS) conditions simultaneously. We hypothesize that if HS-goats are fed with PG, they would get more glucose and consequently spare more glucogenic AA for milk protein synthesis rather than gluconeogenesis. Eight multiparous dairy goats (40.8 ± 1.1 kg body weight; 84 ± 1 days in milk) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design of 4 periods; 21 d each (14 d adaptation, 5 d for measurements, and 2 d of transition). Goats were allocated to one of 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Factors were control (CO) without PG or 5% of PG, and thermoneutral (TN; 15 to 20 °C) or heat stress (HS; 12 h/d at 37 °C and 12 h/d at 30 °C) conditions. Feed intake, rectal temperature, respiratory rate, milk yield, milk composition, and blood metabolites were measured. Compared to TN, HS goats had lower (p < 0.01) feed intake (-34%), fat-corrected milk (-15%), and milk fat (-15%). Heat-stressed goats also tended (p < 0.10) to produce milk with lower protein (-11%) and lactose (-4%) contents. Propylene glycol increased blood glucose (+7%; p < 0.05), blood insulin (+37%; p < 0.10), and body weight gain (+68%; p < 0.05), but decreased feed intake (-9%; p < 0.10) and milk fat content (-23%; p < 0.01). Furthermore, blood non-esterified fatty acids (-49%) and β-hydroxybutyrate (-32%) decreased (p < 0.05) by PG. In conclusion, supplementation of heat-stressed dairy goats with propylene glycol caused milk fat depression syndrome, but reduced body weight loss that is typically observed under HS conditions. Supplementation with lower doses of PG would avoid the reduced feed intake and milk fat depression, but this should be tested.