Chronic Stress Decreases Lactation Performance.

The ability to provision offspring with milk is a significant adaptive feature of mammals that allows for considerable maternal regulation of offspring beyond gestation, as milk provides complete nutrition for developing neonates. For mothers, lactation is a period of marked increases in energetic and nutritive demands to support milk synthesis; because of this considerable increase in demand imposed on multiple physiological systems, lactation is particularly susceptible to the effects of chronic stress. Here, we present work that explores the impact of chronic stress during lactation on maternal lactation performance (i.

Nitrogen metabolism, digestive parameters, and protein requirements for the maintenance of buffalo growth.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effect of crude protein (CP) levels in the diet of growing female buffaloes on nitrogen metabolism and estimate protein requirements for maintenance. Four female buffaloes were used, cannulated in the rumen, with an average initial body weight (BW) of 355 ± 3.5 kg, in a Latin square (4 × 4) with four animals and four levels of CP in the diet (70, 90, 110, and 130 g/kg dry matter (DM)) composed of corn silage and concentrate.