Supporting dataset for: "Plasma essential amino acid concentration and profile are associated with performance of lactating dairy cows as revealed through meta-analysis and hierarchical clustering"

This dataset was used in the meta-analysis and hierarchical clustering published in "Plasma essential amino acid concentration and profile are associated with performance of lactating dairy cows as revealed through meta-analysis and hierarchical clustering" in the Journal of Dairy Science. We searched Web of Science and Google Scholar databases through March 2020 with the terms “plasma EAA,” “milk urea” or “blood urea,” and “dairy” or lactating dairy”. To be included in our study, the papers must have met the following selection criteria: (1) been published in English in a peer-reviewed journal; (2) reported dietary ingredients on a DM basis and at minimum dietary CP concentration; (3) used treatments based on diet changes (e.g., no infusion trials were included); (4) reported DMI, lactation performance, and milk components yield; (5) reported all individual [EAA]p (excluding Trp); and (6) reported blood urea-N or plasma urea-N. Infusion studies were excluded to avoid possible effects of method of EAA supply (e.g., infusion vs. feeding) and to narrow the scope of application. The final dataset included 22 studies and 96 dietary treatments. For a more complete description of the methods, please refer to the published paper.