Milk yield responses to changes in milking frequency during early lactation are associated with coordinated and persistent changes in mammary gene expression.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The lactating mammary gland responds to changes in milking frequency by modulating milk production. This response is locally regulated and, in dairy cows, the udder is particularly sensitive during early lactation. Relative to cows milked twice-daily throughout lactation, those milked four-times-daily for just the first 3 weeks of lactation produce more milk throughout that lactation. We hypothesized that the milk yield response would be associated with increased mammary cell turnover and changes in gene expression during frequent milking and persisting thereafter. Cows were assigned to unilateral frequent milking (UFM; left udder halves milked twice-daily; right udder halves milked four-times daily) on days 1 to 21 of lactation, followed by twice-daily milking for the r

SUBMITTER: Wall EH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3658990 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature