But one University of Saskatchewan (USask) researcher is turning the attention towards dairy cows, showing us just how important gut health is to their overall wellbeing.
Claire Bertens, a graduate student in the University of Saskatchewan’s (USask) College of Agriculture and Bioresources, is looking to understand how environmental and nutritional stressors affect the gut barrier of dairy cows. Growing up on a dairy farm outside of Olds, Alberta, Bertens was raised with a love for dairy cows. Developing a passion for the dairy industry as a child ultimately helped inspire her research career.
“My PhD research focuses on understanding how stressors like heat stress, illness and reduced feed intake affect the integrity of the gut barrier in lactating dairy cows”, said Bertens. “My goal is to identify nutritional strategies that can prevent or mitigate this condition.”
A leaky gut essentially means that bacteria can move or “leak” from the digestive tract into the bloodstream, causing inflammation and a whole host of potential problems.
But assessing leaky gut in cattle can be a challenge for researchers. A cow’s digestive tract contains both the rumen, one of the “forestomach” compartments, and the intestines. Bertens said that it’s often difficult to track down the origin of increased leakiness with currently available techniques. To address this, she has developed a new approach called the dual permeability marker technique.
“This technique allows us to differentiate leakiness in the intestines from the total gastrointestinal tract which helps us pinpoint both the source of the leak and the stressor that may be behind it,” said Bertens. “We found that heat stress and periods of low feed intake primarily increases the leakiness in the intestines.”
Bertens is part of Dr. Greg Penner (PhD) research team, focused on cattle nutrition, nutritional physiology and gut function. Penner is the Centennial Enhancement Chair in Ruminant Nutritional Physiology at USask.
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