Dataset b-carotene and VitE status in dairy cows

In a case study performed in high producing Flemish dairy herds we aimed to: 1) unravel the associations of lactation stage, season and farm type with blood bC and VitE concentrations, 2) investigate the blood bC and VitE concentrations in dairy cows and 3) provide an ‘on farm’ analyzing strategy to estimate the overall antioxidant status of the herd. Seven grazing and 7 zero-grazing dairy farms were visited during autumn, winter and summer. During each visit, blood was randomly sampled from 5 dry cows (2–4w pre-partum), 5 cows in early lactation (0–3w post-partum) and 5 cows in mid lactation (moment of artificial insemination ±12w post-partum), and analyzed on bC, VitE, glutathione peroxidase, non-esterified fatty acids and β-hydroxybutyrate concentrations.
The database is composed of 3 tabs:
1) Farms: the number of animals per farm, the average annual milk yield per cow of each farm (kg) and the type of farm (grazing or zero-grazing) is presented
2) Full database: the following data are presented of each sampled cow: specific cow ID, farm number (1-14), lactation stage (1=DRY, 2=EARLY LACT, 3=MID LACT), number of days post-partum, parity, body condition score (BCS), farm type (1=Grazing, 2=Zero-Grazing), the housing at the moment of sampling (1=Grazing at the field, 2=housed in stables), the season (1=Autumn, 2=Winter, 3=Summer), whether they received vitamin supplements (0/1) or bC supplements in particular (0/1) and the calving interval. B-carotene was measured by means of the iCheck, a chromatographic method or a spectrophotometric method in plasma. Both b-carotene and Vitamin E were analysed in blood withdrawn from the tail vein or udder vein. In addition, glutathione peroxidase in red blood cells and non-esterified fatty acids and b-hydroxy butyric acid were measured in serum.
3) LinearMixedModel data: this is a part of the full database and was used for Linear Mixed Model Analysis.
For an overview of the results, discussion and conclusion see ‘De Bie et al. An update on β-carotene and Vitamin E in the dairy industry: blood levels, influencing factors and the development of a protocol to estimate the antioxidant status of the herd – a case study in Flanders’

本研究在高产弗拉芒奶牛群中开展了一项案例研究，旨在达成以下目标：1）解析泌乳阶段、季节与牧场类型和血液β-胡萝卜素（β-carotene，简称bC）、维生素E（Vitamin E，简称VitE）浓度之间的关联；2）调研奶牛血液中β-胡萝卜素与维生素E的浓度水平；3）提出一套农场级分析策略，以评估牛群整体抗氧化状态。本研究于秋季、冬季与夏季共走访了7家放牧型奶牛场及7家零放牧型奶牛场。每次走访时，随机采集5头干奶牛（产前2至4周）、5头泌乳早期奶牛（产后0至3周）及5头泌乳中期奶牛（人工授精时刻，即产后约12周）的血液样本，对样本中的bC、VitE、谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶、非酯化脂肪酸及β-羟丁酸浓度进行检测。

本数据库包含3个工作表：
1. 牧场信息表：记录各牧场的奶牛存栏数、单头奶牛年均产奶量（单位：千克）以及牧场类型（放牧型或零放牧型）
2. 完整数据库表：记录每头采样奶牛的如下信息：专属奶牛编号、牧场编号（1~14）、泌乳阶段（1=干奶期，2=泌乳早期，3=泌乳中期）、产后天数、胎次、体况评分（Body Condition Score, BCS）、牧场类型（1=放牧型，2=零放牧型）、采样时刻的饲养方式（1=田间放牧，2=圈养）、采样季节（1=秋季，2=冬季，3=夏季）、是否补充维生素补剂（0=否，1=是）以及是否额外补充bC补剂（0=否，1=是），同时记录产犊间隔。血浆中的β-胡萝卜素采用iCheck检测法、色谱法或分光光度法进行测定。从尾静脉或乳房静脉采集的血液样本用于检测β-胡萝卜素与维生素E的浓度。此外，研究人员还在血清中检测了红细胞谷胱甘肽过氧化物酶、非酯化脂肪酸及β-羟丁酸的浓度。
3. 线性混合模型数据集：该表为完整数据库的子集，用于线性混合模型分析。

如需了解研究结果、讨论与结论的全貌，请参阅《De Bie 等. 乳制品行业β-胡萝卜素与维生素E研究进展：血液水平、影响因素及牛群抗氧化状态评估方案的制定——弗拉芒地区案例研究》