Effects of providing two forms of supplemental methionine to periparturient Holstein dairy cows on feed intake and lactational performance

Eighteen primiparous and 42 multiparous Holstein cows were blocked according to parity and expected calving date and assigned randomly to 1 of 3 dietary treatments: 1) a basal diet (negative control), 2) the basal diet plus 2-hydroxy-4-methylthio butanoic acid isopropyl ester (MetaSmart, Adisseo Inc., Antony, France), or 3) the basal diet plus rumen-protected Met (Smartamine M, Adisseo Inc., Alpharetta, GA). Treatments were initiated 21 d before expected calving and continued through 140 d postpartum. Diets were similar in ingredient and chemical composition, except for the content of Met in metabolizable protein. MetaSmart [0.35% prepartum and 0.54% postpartum in diet dry matter (DM)] and Smartamine M (0.06% prepartum and 0.10% postpartum in diet DM) were added to the basal diet in amounts needed to achieve a 3.0:1 ratio of Lys to Met in metabolizable protein. Prepartum DM intake (DMI; 13.5 kg/d), body weight (687 kg), body condition score (3.81), postpartum milk yield (42.0 kg/d), milk fat yield (1,549 g/d), milk fat content (3.66%), milk true protein yield (1,192 g/d), and milk urea N content (12.9 mg/dL) were not different among treatments. Postpartum DMI and body condition score were greater and the ratios of milk:DMI and milk N:feed N were less for cows fed the MetaSmart diet than for cows fed the control and Smartamine M diets. Milk protein content was greater for the Smartamine M (2.87%) and MetaSmart (2.81%) treatments than for the control treatment (2.72%). Concentrations of Met and Met + Cys in total plasma AA were different among treatments, with values for the Smartamine M treatment being the highest, followed by the MetaSmart and control treatments. The results indicated that both MetaSmart and Smartamine M are effective in providing metabolizable Met, but clarification of their relative contributions to metabolizable Met is still needed.