Susanna Räisänen

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Räisänen

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Susanna

ORCID

0000-0001-9199-7026

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Publications 1 - 10 of 24

Divergent effects of 3-nitrooxypropanol on enteric methane emissions in Holstein and Brown Swiss cows, and its lack of synergy with acacia tannin extract
Islam, Md Zakirul; Räisänen, Susanna; He, Tengfei; et al. (2025)
Animal
Enteric methane (CH4), the major contributor to on-farm greenhouse gas emissions, is a key mitigation target due to its high short-term global warming potential. The objectives of this study were to investigate the combined effects of 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) and Acacia mearnsii tannin extract (TAN), and their interactions with dairy cattle breed [Brown Swiss (BS) vs Holstein Friesian (HF)] on lactational performance and CH4 emissions. Sixteen multiparous mid-lactation cows, including 8 BS and 8 HF cows, were used in a split-plot design, with breed as the main plot. Cows within each subplot were arranged in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin Square design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement of treatments across four 24-d periods, including 3-d of sampling. The experimental diets were: (1) CON (basal total mixed ration), (2) 3-NOP (60 mg/kg DM), (3) TAN (3% of DM), and (4) 3-NOP + TAN. Spot samples of urine, faeces, and gas emissions (via GreenFeed) were collected at the end of each period 8 times over 3 days. No 3-NOP × TAN × Breed interactions were observed for DM intake (DMI), milk production, or enteric gas emissions, except for CH4 yield (g/kg DMI) and CO2 production. Breed influenced DMI, milk production, and component yields, with HF cows consuming 3.7 kg/d more DMI, producing 9.3 kg/d more milk, and achieving greater feed efficiency and higher milk component yields than BS cows. Milk yield and energy-corrected milk (ECM) tended to increase in HF but tended to decrease in BS cows by 3-NOP. Cows fed TAN had 1 kg/d lower DMI with the tendency for 3-NOP × TAN that showed greater reduction when TAN was fed alone, but milk yield, ECM, and feed efficiency remained unchanged. Cows fed TAN exhibited 18% lower milk urea nitrogen (N) concentration and 23.0% lower urinary N but 36.7% greater faecal N excretions as a percentage of daily N intake. A 3-NOP × Breed interaction was observed in CH4 production (g/d), with a 21.7% reduction in HF, and a 13.0% reduction in BS. Similarly, there were 3-NOP × Breed tendencies in CH4 yield and intensity (g/kg ECM), with reductions in HF cows of 21.8 and 23.4%, respectively, compared to 11.0 and 10.8% in BS cows. In conclusion, there were no synergistic or additive effects between 3-NOP and TAN on enteric CH4 mitigation. The enteric CH4 emission mitigating effect of 3-NOP was more pronounced in HF cows than in BS cows. Further research is needed to understand breed-specific responses and to optimise CH4 mitigation strategies for inclusion in national greenhouse gas inventories.
Lactational performance, rumen fermentation, nutrient use efficiency, enteric methane emissions, and manure greenhouse gas-emitting potential in dairy cows fed a blend of essential oils
Silvestre, Tatiana; Martins, Leoni F.; Cueva, Sergio F.; et al. (2023)
Journal of Dairy Science
The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effects of an essential oil (EO) blend on lactational performance, rumen fermentation, nutrient utilization, blood variables, enteric methane emissions and manure greenhouse gas-emitting potential in dairy cows. A randomized complete block design experiment was con-ducted with 26 primiparous and 22 multiparous Holstein cows. A 2-wk covariate and a 2-wk adaptation periods preceded a 10-wk experimental period used for data and sample collection. Treatments were: (1) basal diet supplemented with placebo (CON); and (2) basal diet supplemented with a blend of EO containing eugenol and geranyl acetate as main compounds. Supplementa-tion with EO did not affect dry matter intake, milk and energy-corrected milk yields, and feed efficiency of cows, compared with CON. Milk fat and lactose con-centrations were increased, and milk total solids (TS) concentration and milk fat yield tended to be increased by EO. Multiparous cows supplemented with EO tended to have slightly decreased dry matter and crude protein digestibility compared with CON multiparous cows. There was a tendency for increased ruminal pH by EO, whereas other rumen fermentation variables did not differ between treatments. Daily methane emission was not affected by EO supplementation, but methane emission intensity per kg of milk fat was decreased by 8.5% by EO. Methane emission intensity per kg of milk lactose and milk TS were decreased and methane emission intensity per kg of milk yield tended to be decreased by up to 10% in EO multiparous cows, but not in primiparous cows. The greenhouse gas-emitting potential of manure was not affected by EO supplemen-tation. Compared with CON, fecal nitrogen excretion was increased by EO supplementation in multiparous, but not in primiparous cows, and milk nitrogen secre-tion (as a % of nitrogen intake) tended to be increased in EO supplemented cows. Blood variables were not affected by EO supplementation in the current study. Overall, dietary supplementation of EO did not affect lactational performance of the cows, although milk fat and lactose concentrations were increased. Most enteric methane emission metrics were not affected, but EO decreased methane intensity per kg of milk fat by 8.5%, compared with the control.
Modeling the effect of ambient temperature on reticulorumen temperature, and drinking and eating behaviors of late-lactation dairy cows during colder seasons
Serviento, Aira Maye; He, Tengfei; Ma, Xiaoqi; et al. (2024)
Animal
Dairy cows may suffer thermal stress during the colder seasons especially due to their open-air housing systems. Free water temperature (FWT) and feed temperature (FT) are dependent on ambient temperature (AT) and can be critical for maintaining body and reticulorumen temperature (RT) in cold conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of FWT and FT on RT fluctuations, and of AT on RT and drinking and eating behaviors in late-lactation cows during cold exposure. Data were collected from 16 multiparous lactating cows for four 6-d periods during the autumn and winter seasons. The cows (224 ± 36 days in milk; mean ± SD) had an average milk yield (MY) of 24.8 ± 4.97 kg/d and RT of 38.84 ± 0.163 °C. Daily average AT ranged from 4.38 to 17.25 °C. The effects of the temperature and amount of the ingested water or feed on RT change and recovery time, and the effect of the daily AT on RT, feed and water intake, and drinking, eating, and rumination behaviors were analyzed using the generalized additive mixed model framework. Reticulorumen temperature change and recovery time were affected by FWT (+0.0596 °C/°C and −1.27 min/°C, respectively), but not by FT. The amount of the ingested free water and feed affected RT change (−0.108 °C/kg drink size and −0.150 °C/kg meal size, respectively), and RT recovery time (+2.13 min/kg drink size and + 3.71 min/kg meal size, respectively). Colder AT decreased RT by 0.0151 °C/°C between 9.91 and 17.25 °C AT. Cows increased DM intake (DMI) by 0.365 kg/d per 1 °C drop in AT below 10.63 °C, but with no increase in MY. In fact, MY:DMI decreased by 0.0106/°C as AT dropped from 17.25 to 4.38 °C. Free water intake (FWI) was reduced by 0.0856 FWI:DMI/°C as AT decreased from 17.25 to 8.27 °C. Cold exposure influenced animal behavior with fewer drink and meal bouts (−0.432 and −0.290 bouts/d, respectively), larger drink sizes (+0.100 kg/bout), and shorter rumination time (−5.31 min/d) per 1 °C decrease in AT from 17.25 °C to 8.77, 12.53, 4.38, and 10.32 °C, respectively. In conclusion, exposure to low AT increased feed intake, reduced water intake, and changes in eating, drinking and rumination behaviors of dairy cows in late lactation. Additionally, the consequences of cold exposure on cows may be aggravated by ingestion of feed and free water at temperatures lower than the body, potentially impacting feed efficiency due to the extra energetic cost of thermoregulation.
An end-to-end method for predicting the respiratory rate of dairy cows from RGB videos
Wang, Meiqing; Li, Sumin; Peng, Rong; et al. (2024)
Precision Livestock Farming 2024: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming
Respiratory rate (RR) is an important indicator of the health and welfare status of dairy cows. In recent years, progress has been made in monitoring the RR of dairy cows using video data. However, existing methods often involve multiple processing modules, such as region of interest detection and tracking, which can introduce errors that propagate through successive steps. The objective of this study was to develop an end-to-end computer vision (CV) method to predict RR of dairy cows continuously and automatically. The method leverages a state-of-the-art Transformer model, VideoMAE, which divides video frames into patches as input tokens, enabling the automated selection and featurization of relevant regions, such as a cow's abdomen, for predicting RR. The original encoder of VideoMAE was retained, and a classification head was added on top of it. The model was fine-tuned and tested on 17 video segments (16.2 ± 11.00 min; Mean ± SD) collected in a tie-stall barn from 6 dairy cows, capturing them resting with minimal movement from top and side views. Respiratory rates measured using a respiratory belt for individual cows were serving as the ground truth. The evaluation of the developed model was conducted using multiple metrics, including mean absolute error of 2.60 breaths per minute (bpm), root mean squared error of 3.62 bpm, root mean squared prediction error (as a proportion of observed mean) of 14.0%, and Pearson correlation of 0.91. The developed CV-based method offers the potential for an end-to-end solution to monitor RR automatically.
Exhaled volatile fatty acids, ruminal methane emission, and their diurnal patterns in lactating dairy cows
Islam, Md Zakirul; Giannoukos, Stamatios; Räisänen, Susanna; et al. (2023)
Journal of Dairy Science
To date, the commonly used methods to assess rumen fermentation are invasive. Exhaled breath contains hundreds of volatile organic compounds (VOC) that can reflect animal physiological processes. In the present study, for the first time, we aimed to use a non-invasive metabolomics approach based on high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify rumen fermentation parameters in dairy cows. Enteric methane (CH4) production from 7 lactating cows was measured 8 times over 2 consecutive days using the GreenFeed system. Simultaneously, exhalome samples were collected in Tedlar gas sampling bags and analyzed offline using a secondary electrospray ionization high-resolution mass spectrometry (SESI-HRMS) system. In total, 1,298 features were detected, among them targeted exhaled volatile fatty acids (eVFA, i.e., acetate, propionate, butyrate), which were putatively annotated using their exact mass-to-charge ratio. The intensity of eVFA, in particular acetate, increased immediately after feeding and followed a similar pattern observed for ruminal CH4 production. The average total eVFA concentration was 35.4 count-per-second (CPS), and among the individual eVFA, acetate had the greatest concentration, averaging 21.0 CPS followed by propionate at 11.5 CPS, and butyrate at 2.82 CPS. Further, exhaled acetate was on average the most abundant of the individual eVFA at around 59.3%, followed by 32.5 and 7.9% of the total eVFA for propionate and butyrate, respectively. This corresponds well with the previously reported proportions of these VFA in the rumen. The diurnal patterns of ruminal CH4 emission and individual eVFA were characterized using a linear mixed model with cosine function fit. The model characterized similar diurnal patterns for eVFA and ruminal CH4 and H2 production. Regarding the diurnal patterns of eVFA, the phase (time of peak) of butyrate occurred first, followed by that of acetate and propionate. Importantly, the phase of total eVFA occurred around 1 h before that of ruminal CH4. This corresponds well with existing data on the relationship between rumen VFA production and CH4 formation. Results from the present study revealed a great potential to assess the rumen fermentation of dairy cows using exhaled metabolites as a non-invasive proxy for rumen VFA. Further validation, with comparisons to rumen fluid, and establishment of the proposed method are required.
Development of a tracking-by-classification method for identifying and tracking Holstein cows in a free-stall barn environment
Zandona, Boris; Wang, Meiqing; Li, Sumin; et al. (2024)
Precision Livestock Farming 2024: Papers presented at the 11th European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming
Individual monitoring of dairy cattle such as behaviour, health status, and production information is vital for the effective management and welfare of the farm. Therefore, individual animal identification (ID) as well as continuous and accurate tracking are re-quired to assess these parameters on an individual basis. Recently, there has been an in-creasing interest in the development of contactless computer vision (CV)-based ap-proaches for these two tasks. However, latest studies involving multiple object tracking (MOT) for cattle encountered problems with re-identifications of previously seen indi-viduals once they re-entered the field of view (FOV). The objective of this work was to develop a CV-based method for identifying and tracking Holstein cows in a free-stall barn environment. The proposed method consists of an object detector first recognising and localising cows in the frame. The detections are then sent to a classifier that predicts the classification probabilities for each ID. The association between detections and indi-vidual IDs is performed by maximizing the total classification probability in two rounds of Hungarian matching. The method was trained and tested on video data from a squared pen containing 13 Holstein cows. Tested on seven videos of five minutes each, our method showed better performances in Identification F1 score (IDF1), and Higher Order Tracking Accuracy (HOTA) compared to SORT and DeepSORT. For IDF1, the results were 91.47%, 85.81% and 86.44%, respectively, for the proposed method, SORT and DeepSORT. For HOTA, the results were 90.14%, 85.07%, and 88.17%, respective-ly. With respect to the Multiple Object Tracking Accuracy (MOTA) however, DeepSORT displayed the highest performance with 90.21%.
Exhalomics as a noninvasive method for assessing rumen fermentation in dairy cows: Can exhaled breath metabolomics replace rumen sampling?
Islam, Md Zakirul; Räisänen, Susanna; Schudel, A.; et al. (2023)
Journal of Dairy Science
Previously, we utilized secondary electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (SESI-MS) to investigate the diurnal patterns and signal intensities of exhaled volatile fatty acids (EX-VFA) of dairy cows. The current study aimed to validate the potential of exhalomics approach for evaluating rumen fermentation. The experiment was conducted in a switchback design, with 3 periods of 9 d each, including 7 d for adaptation and 2 d for sampling. Four rumen-cannulated original Swiss Brown (Braunvieh) cows were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 diet sequences (ABA or BAB): (A) low-starch (LS; 6.31% starch of DM) and (B) high-starch (HS; 16.2% starch of DM). Feeding was 1x/d at 0800 h. Exhalome (with the GreenFeed System), and rumen samples were collected 8 times to represent every 3-h of a day, and EX-VFA and ruminal VFA (RM-VFA) were analyzed using SESI-MS and HPLC, respectively. Further, the VFA concentration in the gas phase (HR-VFA) was predicted based on RM-VFA and Henry's Law constants. No interactions were identified between the types of diets (HS vs. LS) and the measurement methods on daily average VFA profiles [ruminal (RM) vs. exhaled (EX) or Henry's Law (HR) vs. exhaled (EX)], suggesting a consistent performance among the methods. Additionally, when the 3-h interval VFA data from HS and LS diets were analyzed separately, no interactions were observed between methods and time-of-day, indicating that the relative daily pattern of VFA molar proportions was similar regardless of the VFA measurement method used. The results revealed that the levels of acetate sharply increased immediately after feeding, trailed by an increase in the A:P ratio and a steady increase for propionate (2 h after feeding in HS, 4 h for LS), and butyrate. This change was more pronounced for the HS than the LS diet. However, there was no overall diet effect on the VFA molar proportions, while the measurement methods affected the molar proportions. Furthermore, we observed a strong positive correlation between the levels of RM and EX acetate for both diets (HS: r = 0.84; LS: r = 0.85), RM and EX propionate (r = 0.74), and RM and EX A:P ratio (r = 0.80). Both EX-VFA and RM-VFA exhibited similar responses to feeding and dietary treatments, suggesting that EX-VFA could serve as a useful proxy for characterizing RM-VFA molar proportions to evaluate rumen fermentation. Similar relationships were observed between RM-VFA and HR-VFA. In conclusion, this study underscores the potential of exhalomics as a reliable approach for assessing rumen fermentation. Moving forward, research should further explore the depth of exhalomics in ruminant studies, to provide a comprehensive insight into rumen fermentation metabolites, especially across diverse dietary conditions.
Production effects of extruded soybean meal replacing canola meal in the diet of lactating dairy cows
Cueva, Sergio F.; Räisänen, Susanna; Wasson, Derek E.; et al. (2023)
Journal of Dairy Science
This study investigated the effects of extruded soy-bean meal (ESBM) in comparison with canola meal (CM) fed on an equivalent crude protein (CP) basis on lactational performance and ruminal fermentation of dairy cows. Following a 2-wk covariate period, 48 Holstein cows averaging (& PLUSMN;SD): 146 & PLUSMN; 46 d in milk (DIM) and 43 & PLUSMN; 7 kg/d milk yield (MY) were assigned 1 of 2 treatment diets in a randomized complete block design experiment, which included a 2-wk period for dietary treatment adaptation before experimental data were collected. Following the adaptation period, sam-ples and experimental data were collected for a total of 7 wk. Cows were blocked based on parity, DIM, and MY. Treatment diets contained 15.8% CM (containing 41.2% CP) or 13.2% ESBM (with 48.7% CP) of total mixed ration dry matter (DM), with similar inclusion of other feed ingredients. The CM diet was supplemented with canola oil, whereas the ESBM diet was supplemented with soybean hulls to achieve similar ether extract and neutral detergent fiber contents between the diets. Urea and rumen-protected Met and Lys were added to both diets to meet or exceed cow recommen-dations. Whole-ruminal digesta samples were collected from 10 (5 per treatment) ruminally cannulated cows. Eight cannulated cows were removed during the last week of the experiment to participate in another study. Treatment did not affect DM intake and MY or energy-corrected MY of the cows. Energy-corrected MY, apart from experimental wk 5, was similar between treatments. Apart from experimental wk 3 and 7, milk fat concentration and yield were greater for cows fed ESBM compared with CM. In multiparous cows only, milk true protein yield was greater for cows fed CM compared with ESBM. Ruminal concentration of total volatile fatty acids and the molar proportion of acetate were greater for ESBM, and propionate and valerate were greater in cows fed CM. Acetate to propionate ratio was greater for cows fed ESBM versus CM diet. Compared with the CM diet, the ESBM diet increased plasma concentrations of Ile, Leu, and Phe but not the sum of essential AA. Apparent total-tract digestibility of acid detergent fiber was greater in cows fed ESBM relative to CM. In this experiment, CM and ESBM included on an equal CP basis in the diet of dairy cows, resulted in similar DM intake, MY, and feed efficiency.
Comparison of Two Sampling Techniques for Evaluating Ruminal Fermentation and Microbiota in the Planktonic Phase of Rumen Digesta in Dairy Cows
de Assis Lage, Camila Flavia; Räisänen, Susanna; Melgar, Audino; et al. (2020)
Frontiers in Microbiology
The objective of this experiment was to compare ruminal fluid samples collected through rumen cannula (RC) or using an oral stomach tube (ST) for measurement of ruminal fermentation and microbiota variables. Six ruminally cannulated lactating Holstein cows fed a standard diet were used in the study. Rumen samples were collected at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 12 h after the morning feeding on two consecutive days using both RC and ST techniques. Samples were filtered through two layers of cheesecloth and the filtered ruminal fluid was used for further analysis. Compared with RC, ST samples had 7% greater pH; however, the pattern in pH change after feeding was similar between sampling methods. Total volatile fatty acids (VFA), acetate and propionate concentrations in ruminal fluid were on average 23% lower for ST compared with RC. There were no differences between RC and ST in VFA molar proportions (except for isobutyrate), ammonia and dissolved hydrogen (dH2) concentrations, or total protozoa counts, and there were no interactions between sampling technique and time of sampling. Bacterial ASV richness was higher in ST compared with RC samples; however, no differences were observed for Shannon diversity. Based on Permanova analysis, bacterial community composition was influenced by sampling method and there was an interaction between sampling method and time of sampling. A core microbiota comprised of Prevotella, S24-7, unclassified Bacteroidales and unclassified Clostridiales, Butyrivibrio, unclassified Lachnospiraceae, unclassified Ruminococcaceae, Ruminococcus, and Sharpea was present in both ST and RC samples, although their relative abundance varied and was influenced by an interaction between sampling time and sampling method. Overall, our results suggest that ruminal fluid samples collected using ST (at 180 to 200 cm depth) are not representative of rumen pH, absolute values of VFA concentrations, or bacterial communities >2 h post-feeding when compared to samples of ruminal fluid collected using RC. However, ST can be a feasible sampling technique if the purpose is to study molar proportions of VFA, protozoa counts, dH2, and ammonia concentrations.
Evaluating GreenFeed and respiration chambers for daily and intraday measurements of enteric gaseous exchange in dairy cows housed in tiestalls
Ma, Xiaoqi; Räisänen, Susanna; Wang, Kai; et al. (2024)
Journal of Dairy Science
The objective of this study was to evaluate the GreenFeed (GF) system and respiration chambers (RC) for daily and intraday measurements of the enteric gaseous exchange, as well as the metabolic heat production, lying behavior, and feed intake (FI) rate of dairy cows at these 2 respective housing conditions (tiestall barn [TSB] vs. RC) during the summer periods. Sixteen multiparous lactating dairy cows were recruited and arranged in a randomized complete block design with a baseline period established for each cow. Cows were given a basal diet (CON) for a baseline period of 7 d and were then fed a 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP)-containing feed for the subsequent 26 d as experimental period. During both the baseline and the last 7 d of treatment period, gaseous exchanges of each animal were measured in the TSB using GF for 8 staggered measurements over 3 d, immediately followed by the measurement in RC for 2 d. Corresponding DMI, milk yield, and behavior parameters (e.g., lying behavior and FI rate) in TSB and RC were recorded. The correlation coefficients of CH4 and H2 using raw data were 0.84 and 0.85, respectively. For all gases, correlation coefficients between GF and RC on individual cow level decreased when the marginal fixed effects (e.g., inhibitor and breed) were corrected by a mixed model. There were no differences in daily CH4 production or intensity between GF and RC (442 vs. 443 g CH4/d or 16.6 vs. 16.2 g CH4 /kg MY). However, greater CH4 yield was measured by GF than RC (19.0 vs. 17.8 g CH4/kg DMI), driven by a lower DMI (23.3 vs. 24.6 kg/d) when cows were housed in TSB sampled by GF compared with cows being housed and sampled in RC. The correlations for CO2 production and O2 consumption were moderate and expected due to the variation associated with the mild heat stress condition during GF measurements in the TSB (temperature-humidity index [THI] 56 vs. 68), as indicated by the reduced lying time (−2.1 h/d). At the intraday level, there was an interaction between techniques and hour-of-day for CH4 production, as indicated by the discrepancies in postprandial CH4 emissions between techniques. In summary, this set of results showed that there were strong positive correlations for CH4 and H2 emissions between GF and RC based on individual cow data. However, such relationship should be interpreted with caution, given the data clustering resulting from the use of inhibitor 3-NOP. On treatment level, these 2 techniques detected similar inhibitor effect on the estimated daily CH4 emissions. The intraday patterns of CH4 and H2 production captured by GF provided a close approximation for those measured by RC. Nevertheless, potential underestimation may occur, especially following fresh feed delivery. For measuring CO2 production and O2 consumption, the GF captured similar intraday variations to those in the RC. However, the estimated daily production and consumption were not directly comparable, which was expected due to the variable thermal conditions during the summer. Further evaluations under the same weather conditions are warranted.

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Susanna Räisänen

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