OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

Immune cells have been observed in many tissues of the mammal including the gut, liver, adipose, bone, and neural tissue. Our objective was to demonstrate whether immune cells are present within the stratified rumen epithelium of healthy lactating dairy cattle. We hypothesized that immune cells would be found in the rumen tissue and that the total amount of leukocytes present would increase during a ruminal acidosis challenge. We conducted a 2-phase experiment with 9 rumen-cannulated lactating Holstein cows. During phase 1, cows were fed a diet containing 31% NDF, 24% forage NDF and 27% starch (CON) for 14 d. The starch sources were corn silage and dry ground corn. During phase 2, cows were fed a diet with 28% NDF, 16% forage NDF, and 32% starch (SARA) for 7 d. The SARA starch sources were corn silage, dry ground corn, ground wheat, and ground barley. During both phases, rumen fluid, fecal, blood, and rumen tissue samples were collected. Feed intake and milk yield were recorded each..

Primary location: Columbus United States