Milk production, nitrogen utilization and glucose synthesis in lactating cows infused postruminally with sodium...

Four lactating Holstein cows were used in a 4 X 4 Latin Square design to determine the effects of postruminally administering sodium caseinate and/or glucose on milk production, milk composition, nitrogen utilization, amino acid utilization by the lactating mammary gland and glucose turnover rate. An 8.5% increase in milk yield and a 13.3% increase in milk protein production were obtained during infusion of sodium caseinate. No significant production responses were attributed to abomasal infusion of glucose. Arterial concentrations of most essential amino acids were increased during infusion of sodium caseinate. Uptake of phenylalanine, methionine and lysine by the mammary gland most closely paralleled their output in milk. The relative concentrations of methionine, lysine and phenylalanine in arterial plasma were considerably less than their concentrations in milk which resulted in a large percentage extraction of these amino acids by the mammary gland. If the availability of essential amino acids to the mammary gland, per se, was limiting the synthesis of milk protein, methionine, lysine and phenylalanine may have been the three amino acids most limiting. Measurements of glucose entry rate showed a trend toward increased glucose flux when either glucose, sodium caseinate or glucose plus sodium caseinate were infused abomasally. The similarity in glucose entry rates obtained during infusion of glucose and sodium caseinate suggest that the increase in milk production was not due totally to increased glucose flux resulting from sodium caseinate infusion.