High-concentrate feeding upregulates the expression of inflammation-related genes in the ruminal epithelium of dairy cattle

The objective of this study was to characterize the mRNA expression profile in rumen epithelium from Holstein dairy cows fed high or low concentrate dits. Four ruminally cannulated Holstein cattle (average body weight, 460 ± 16.4 kg; 84 ± 25 d in milk at the beginning of the trial) were used in a 2 × 2 crossover design trial with 2 cows in each square and 2 periods. The dietary treatments were a low-concentrate diet (LC; 40% concentrate feed, DM basis) and a high-concentrate diet (HC; 70% concentrate feed, DM basis). Each experimental period was 21 d, with the first 11 d used for diet adaptation and 10 d of measurements. Rumen papillae samples were collected at 4 h after the morning feeding on d 21 of each experimental period.