Guests: Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Cornell University 

Here is the first episode of the New Revelations in Transition Cow Nutrition from the 2022 Cornell Nutrition Conference four-part mini-series. Essential versus required nutrition requirements is the subject matter from Dr. Mike Van Amburgh of Cornell University. Dr. Clay Zimmerman from Balchem adds his comments in this podcast as well.

Laying out a new way to think about essential and non-essential nutrients, Dr. Van Amburgh began the series by highlighting the value of understanding nutritional equivalencies such as amino acids and carbohydrates and reframing the function of energy. 2:28

While microbial proteins are made of both essential and non-essential amino acids, the key factor is remembering synthesis is energy intensive. 

Mentioning the adaptability of the organ, Dr. Van Amburgh shares that not only do the nutrient sources allow a cow to manipulate blood flow, but it allows for the ability of groups to form to maximize efficiency. 8:51

Beginning with the general understanding of optimal supply, Dr. Van Amburgh shifted his discussion to anabolic output responses. He shared that when considering the extraction of branched chains, lysine tends to undergo obligate metabolism in the mammary gland. 11:09

Ultimately milk protein synthesis requires key metabolic pathways, but how does an optimal supply of amino acids affect anabolic output? 

When analyzing shifts in nutrient profiles, Dr. Van Amburgh shared the transparency that occurs when building fatty acid diets. He mentioned he’s researching the value of pushing methionine up to 1.19 grams and then nearly 2.7 times for lysine. 17:25

So what does the future of nutrition modeling look like? Based on a meta-analysis, Dr. Zimmerman added the biggest goal in nutritional modeling continues to be focused on the differences between essential and required nutrients. 38:31

Wrapping up the conversation, Dr. Zimmerman shared key takeaways from Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar and briefly mentioned the meta-analysis highlight of choline as a required nutrient in transitional dairy cows. 42:39

If you would like to review Dr. Van Amburgh’s webinar from the 2022 Cornell Mini Symposium, you can view all four webinars in the series at balchem/com/realscience. 

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