Graphical Abstract
Negative energy balance often occurs in the first few weeks of lactation in dairy cows when the metabolic demands for milk production are greatest (Xu et al., 2020). Reduced feed intake, a driver of negative energy balance, can also lead to increases in systemic inflammation, altered milk composition and changes in mammary gene expression profiles (Abdelatty et al., 2017; Pascottini et al., 2019). Affected transcriptome profiles may be related to disturbed histone deacetylase activities and transcription factors regulated by oxidative stress (Shi et al., 2018; Silva et al., 2018). In this issue, Leduc et al. (2021) provide a concise review on the topic of reduced feed intake in the lactating dairy cow.
References
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