Table 4. Least squares means of blood biochemical parameters for high (n = 32) and medium (n = 32) producing dairy cows receiving either calcium salts of fatty acids (Ca-FA) or high-palmitic acid (PA) during a heat stress period
Item | High production | Medium production | SEM | p-value |
PA | Ca-FA | PA | Ca-FA | PL | FS | PL × FS |
Metabolites (mg/dL) |
Glucose | 57.20 | 59.70 | 57.17 | 56.21 | 1.99 | 0.53 | 0.82 | 0.52 |
Triglyceride | 16.16 | 11.67 | 12.40 | 11.64 | 1.09 | 0.08 | 0.05 | 0.08 |
Cholesterol | 288.06 | 281.85 | 188.78 | 252.22 | 17.50 | 0.02 | 0.35 | 0.16 |
LDL | 68.65 | 63.35 | 40.86 | 56.83 | 7.71 | 0.12 | 0.67 | 0.30 |
VLDL | 2.84a | 2.43b | 2.39b | 2.50ab | 0.08 | 0.10 | 0.28 | 0.03 |
BUN | 16.59 | 14.06 | 17.64 | 15.58 | 0.64 | 0.18 | 0.06 | 0.79 |
Enzymes (U/L) |
Aspartate transferase | 123.31 | 101.49 | 128.76 | 81.86 | 11.96 | 0.67 | 0.11 | 0.44 |
Alanine transferase | 25.57 | 24.51 | 26.82 | 21.61 | 1.06 | 0.57 | 0.11 | 0.17 |
Plasma proteins (g/dL) |
Total protein | 8.73 | 8.76 | 8.42 | 8.79 | 0.14 | 0.48 | 0.42 | 0.38 |
Albumin | 4.06 | 4.25 | 4.23 | 4.33 | 0.07 | 0.22 | 0.24 | 0.63 |
Globulin | 4.66 | 4.50 | 4.19 | 4.45 | 0.18 | 0.33 | 0.87 | 0.41 |
PL, production level; FS, fat source; PL × FS, interaction between production level and fat source; LDL, low density lipoprotein; VLDL, very low density lipoprotein; BUN, blood urea nitrogen.
Different superscripts within a row indicate significant differences at p < 0.05.