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.