Confinement and pasture-based dairy herds differ in plasma lipid profiles

Dairy cow housing and management can be broadly described as either intensive confinement-based (CONFINE) or extensive pasture-based (PAST) systems. The diets between systems typically differ in their forage base, with CONFINE farms often utilizing maize silage in a TMR. Consequently, the lipid composition of diets differs between systems. The influence of housing system on blood lipidomics is currently unknown, but due to the bioactive role of lipids in influencing overall health and productivity, differences in diet may have consequences for reproduction, health, and aging of cows. The objective of this cross-sectional, multisite study was to investigate blood lipids and metabolites from cows in PAST and CONFINE systems, in the dry period (∼27 d prepartum) and at peak milk (∼58 DIM). After exclusions, blood samples from 303 PAST and 398 CONFINE dry-period cows and 350 PAST and 431 CONFINE peak-milk cows from 15 PAST and 15 CONFINE farms were analyzed. A total of 185 lipid species (including glycerophospholipids, sphingomyelins, and triacylglycerols) were evaluated using targeted liquid chromatography-MS, as were 11 routinely measured metabolites. Dry and peak-milk cohorts were analyzed separately throughout. Lipids and metabolites associated with housing system were selected using a variable stabilization approach that was achieved by calculating the frequency of inclusion in categorical (housing system) penalized models using bootstrapping. Variables were retained if inclusion frequency exceeded a false-positive threshold. Five different statistical models were used with variable stabilization. Dry cows in CONFINE systems had decreased globulin, urea, and glycerophospholipids associated with n-3 fatty acids. The highest total inclusion rates in the dry cohort were phosphatidylcholine (PC; 36:5), which mostly comprises palmitic acid (C16:0) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5n-3), then phosphatidylethanolamine (PE; 38:5, 16:0/22:5n-3 or 18:0/EPA) and PC(34:3; 16:0/18:3 α-linolenic acid [ALA]). No lipids were increased in more than one stabilized model in CONFINE dry cows. Peak-milk CONFINE cows had increased glycerophospholipids associated with n-6 fatty acids. The highest total inclusion-rate lipids in the peak-milk cohort were phosphatidylinositol (PI; 38:3; 18:0/20:3n-6 dihomo-γ-linolenic acid), PC(34:2; 16:0/18:2 linoleic acid [LA]), PC(40:7; 18:2/22:5n-6), PC(34:1; 16:0/18:1), and PE(34:2; 16:0/LA). The CONFINE peak-milk cows also had decreased PC(34:3; 16:0/ALA). This study identified specific lipids that were strongly associated with housing systems, findings that have not been reported elsewhere. Given the important biological functions of omega fatty acids, the pattern of glycerophospholipids with increased n-6 and decreased n-3 in CONFINE cows may indicate housing systems create different risk profiles for reproduction, health, and aging.