To investigate the association of health status and parity with hormone profiles during the transition period and reproductive parameters in Holstein dairy cows, a prospective observational cohort study was carried out including only healthy primiparous (PP, n = 116) and multiparous (MP, n = 172) cows at the beginning of the study. A subset of 120 healthy and sick cows was randomly selected for insulin, IGF-I, leptin and adiponectin determination. Primiparous cows had greater IGF-I and adiponectin concentrations (P < 0.05) and tended (P=0.07) to have greater insulin concentrations than MP cows. While healthy and sick MP and sick PP cows presented a sharp decrease in IGF-I concentrations after calving, healthy PP cows maintained them. Postpartum adiponectin concentrations were lower in sick than in healthy MP cows. A greater percentage of healthy cows ovulated during the first 7 weeks after calving when compared to sick cows (67.9% vs 50%, P=0.002) and a similar trend was found for MP vs PP cows (64% vs 53%, P=0.01). More healthy cows were inseminated in comparison to sick cows (94% vs 76.5%, P < 0.01) and more PP than MP cows (90.4% vs 82.7%, P < 0.05). Similarly, healthy cows presented a greater proportion of pregnancy than sick cows (75% vs 54%, P < 0.01) and the proportion of pregnancy was higher in PP than in MP cows (74% vs 56%, P=0.04). Health status interacting with parity yielded different endocrine profiles, which may partially explain the differences in reproductive performance.
Keywords: Dairy cow; Disease; Endocrine profile; Reproduction.
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