Body phosphorus mobilization and deposition during lactation in dairy cows

Dairy cow bone phosphorus (P) mobilization and deposition and their influence on P requirements were studied over the lactation cycle. Thirty Holsteins received a common diet during the dry period and one of the following three dietary treatments that varied in P percentage during the subsequent lactation (44 weeks): (i) 0.36 throughout (constant P, 0.36‐0.36‐0.36), (ii) 0.36 for 30 weeks then 0.29 for 14 weeks (P changed once, 0.36‐0.36‐0.29), and (iii) 0.43 for 10 weeks, 0.36 for 20 weeks, and 0.29 for 14 weeks (P changed twice, 0.43‐0.36‐0.29). Six P balance studies were conducted during the experiment, including one during the dry period and five along lactation, based on P intake, faecal P, urinary P and milk P, when appropriate. Blood samples were taken during balance to analyse bone formation (osteocalcin) and resorption (pyridinoline) marker concentrations and rib biopsies performed to determine bone P content. Phosphorus balance was negative during weeks ?4 to ?1 relative to lactation for all groups and remained negative for cows fed 0.36% P during weeks 1–5, but showed a positive value for cows that received 0.43% P. The balance was close to zero for all groups at weeks 19–23 and showed a clear retention during weeks 38–42; by the end of lactation, cows re‐stored most of the P mobilized earlier. The pattern in P balance was consistent with changes in blood bone metabolism marker concentrations, rib bone P content, and faecal and urinary P concentrations over the experiment, indicating that cows, irrespective of the dietary P treatments received, mobilized P from bone during the late dry period when fed a low‐Ca diet and early lactation, and re‐stored P in late lactation. This dynamic of P metabolism can have important implications for dietary P requirements and ration formulations.