Table 4. Treatments’ mean values associated to analyzed metabolites through the experimental periods for grazing dairy cows under tropical conditions.

		Periods (days with respect to partum)
Variable	Treatment	−30	SE	−15	SE	0	SE	15	SE	30	SE	45	SE	Covariate (p-value)	Interaction (p-value)*
T4 (nmol/l)	1	88.5a	8.85	51.4a	5.92	41.0a	5.92	35.7a	5.92	42.1a	5.92	31.6b	5.92	0.0002	0.0063
	2	60.0b	2.73	52.7a	2.73	42.4a	2.73	38.7a	2.73	49.9a	2.73	50.9a	2.73
	3	59.4b	2.64	47.3a	2.64	45.0a	2.64	45.5a	2.64	45.6a	2.64	48.0a	2.64
T3 (nmol/l)	1	2.12	0.21	2.24	0.15	1.97	0.15	1.93	0.15	2.04	0.15	1.87	0.15	NS	NS
	2	2.62	0.15	2.4	0.15	1.9	0.15	2.07	0.15	2.25	0.15	2.19	0.15
	3	2.29	0.15	2.26	0.15	1.95	0.15	1.72	0.15	2.12	0.15	1.92	0.15
Cortisol (nmol/l)	1	256.3a	60.7	255.3a	41.8	52.3a	41.8	140.6a	41.8	206.0a	41.8	130.5a	41.8	NS	<0.0001
	2	202.5a	41.3	188.5a	41.3	112.2a	41.3	118.1a	41.3	155.8a	41.3	139.3a	41.3
	3	202.9a	39.2	154.8a	39.2	91.9a	39.2	135.7a	39.2	182.7a	39.2	173.8a	39.2
BCS	1	3.62	0.1	3.63	0.08	3	0.08	2.93	0.08	2.96	0.08	2.96	0.08	NS	NS
	2	3.61	0.09	3.61	0.09	3.07	0.09	2.96	0.09	2.86	0.09	2.82	0.09
	3	3.64	0.1	3.64	0.1	3.25	0.1	3.04	0.1	3.11	0.1	3.04	0.1

BHB: betahidroxibutirate; NEFA: nonesterified fatty acid; T ³: triiodothyronine; T ⁴: thyroxine; BCS: body condition score; NS: nonsignificate effect; SE: standard error.

The estimated milk production per lactation was used as covariate and declared significant with a p<0.05; The treatment (*) period interaction was significant with a p <0.05.