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. 1994 Mar 1;35(1):37–53. doi: 10.1186/BF03548354

Rapeseed Products from Double-Low Cultivars as Feed for Dairy Cows: Effects of Long-Term Feeding on Thyroid Function, Fertility and Animal Health

K-Å Ahlin 1,✉, M Emanuelson 1, H Wiktorsson 1
PMCID: PMC8101398  PMID: 8209820

Abstract

Eighty-five dairy cows of the Swedish Red and White Breed (SRB) were included in a long-term experiment during 3 consecutive lactations. The cows were divided into 3 different dietary groups that received no rapeseed (NR), up to 1.2 kg dry matter (DM) 00-rapeseed meal plus 0.2 kg DM full-fat 00-rapeseed (MR), and up to 2.5 kg DM 00-rapeseed meal plus 0.9 kg DM full-fat 00-rapeseed (HR) per day. No significant differences in culling rates or disease rates were found between the feeding groups at any time during the experiment. The interval from calving to conception among the primiparous cows was longer for the HR-group (125 days) than for the NR-group (100 days). The response to a thyrotroph releasing hormone around 90 days postpartum during the first lactation was significantly higher for the HR-group (86.7 µ/L/h) than for the NR-group (55.2 µg/L/h). This indicates that at the highest level of rapeseed feeding, glucosinolates had a very mild, suppressive influence on thyroid hormone release, apparently compensated for by an increased activity along the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis. No significant differences in fertility or thyroid function were found among the pluriparous cows. During 2nd lactation the concentration of serum urea was higher in the NR-group (7.31 mmol/L) than in the HR-group (6.83 mol/L). The effects of independent environmental factors influenced fertility and thyroid function to a much greater extent than the rapeseed feeding. It was concluded that the feeding of rapeseed products from certified double low varieties of B. napus to adult dairy cows in amounts up to 3 kg rapeseed meal per cow and day would not have any negative effects on animal health or fertility.

Keywords: glucosinolates, TRH, TSH, reproduction, metabolic blood profile

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Acknowledgments

This project was made possible through financial grants from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SUAS), the Oilseed Grower’s Association (SOC), and the Swedish Farmer’s Association for Agricultural Research. The authors are greatly indebted to NIADDK and NHPP, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, USA, and to Dr. A.F. Par-low, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA, USA, for providing NIADDK-bTSH-11, NIADDK-bTSH-I-1, and NIAMDD-anti-oTSH-1. We also thank Dr. Andrzej Madej and Ms Mari-Anne Carlsson at the Department of Clinical Chemistry, SUAS, for expert technical assistance with the TSH analyses.

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