Bovine Mammary Nutrigenomics and Changes in the Milk Composition due to Rapeseed or Sunflower Oil Supplementation of High-Forage or High-Concentrate Diets.

BACKGROUND: Fatty acid (FA) composition plays a crucial role in milk nutritional quality. Despite the known nutritional regulation of ruminant milk composition, the overall mammary mechanisms underlying this regulation are far from being understood. The aim of our study was to determine nutritional regulation of mammary transcriptomes in relation to the cow milk composition.

METHODS: Twelve cows received diets differing in the forage-to-concentrate ratio [high forage (HF) and low forage (LF)] supplemented or not with lipids [HF with whole intact rapeseeds (RS) and LF sunflower oil (SO)] in a 4 × 4 Latin square design. Milk production and FA composition were determined. The gene expression profile was studied using RT-qPCR and a bovine microarray.

RESULTS: Our results showed a higher amplitude of milk composition and mammary transcriptome responses to lipid supplementation with the LF-SO compared with the LF diet than with the HF-RS compared with the HF diet. Forty-nine differentially expressed genes, including genes involved in lipid metabolism, were identified with LF-SO versus LF, whereas RS supplementation to the HF diet did not affect the mammary transcriptome.

CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights different responses to lipid supplementation of milk production and composition and mammary transcriptomes depending on the nature of lipid supplementation and the percentage of dietary concentrate.