Table 7.

Effects of feeding medium-chain fatty acid on blood metabolites and hormones of pre-calving, early lactation, and peak lactation cows².

Variable	Treatment1		SEM	P-value
	CON	MCFA		Treatment	Time	Treatment×Time
Pre-calving
BHBA3 (mmol/L)	0.48	0.47	0.007	0.62	0.05	0.43
NEFA3 (umol/L)	43.14	41.88	0.586	0.18	<0.01	0.20
TG3 (mmol/L)	0.23	0.20	0.001	0.10	0.05	0.84
INS3 (mIU/mL)	22.65a	18.47b	0.939	0.04	0.32	0.65
Early lactation
BHBA (mmol/L)	0.50	0.50	0.007	0.62	0.01	0.11
NEFA (umol/L)	44.77	43.03	0.593	0.11	0.01	0.14
TG (mmol/L)	0.13	0.13	0.005	0.19	0.62	0.08
INS (mIU/mL)	14.13	14.98	0.681	0.54	0.10	0.41
Peak lactation
BHBA (mmol/L)	0.46	0.44	0.009	0.34	0.97	0.92
NEFA (umol/L)	44.38	43.61	0.688	0.61	0.64	0.69
TG (mmol/L)	0.13	0.15	0.008	0.27	0.16	0.84
INS (mIU/mL)	17.01	18.19	1.028	0.42	<0.01	0.82

SEM, standard error of mean.

^a-bMeans within a row with unlike superscripts differ (P ≤ 0.05).

¹CON, control treatment, basic diet with no medium chain fatty acids, n = 9. MCFA, MCFA treatment, basic diet and medium chain fatty acids 20 g/d, n = 9.

²Pre-calving, from 21 d before calving to calving, Early lactation = from 1 d to 28 d after calving, Peak lactation = from 29 d to 70 d after calving.

³BHBA, β-hydroxybutyrate; NEFA, non-esterified fatty acid; TG, triglyceride; INS, insulin.