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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Animal Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1433230
This article is part of the Research Topic Animal Health and Production: Identifying Challenges and Finding a Way Forward View all 40 articles

Effects of UV-B Light Exposure During Automatic Milking on Vitamin D Levels in Holstein Friesian Cows

Provisionally accepted
Jaka Jakob Hodnik Jaka Jakob Hodnik 1,2*Marko Jankovec Marko Jankovec 3Jožica Ježek Jožica Ježek 1Žiga Krusic Žiga Krusic 4Stefan Mitterhofer Stefan Mitterhofer 3Jože Starič Jože Starič 1
  • 1 Clinic for Reproduction and Large Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 2 University of Glasgow, Other, Glasgow, United Kingdom
  • 3 Laboratory of Photovoltaics and Optoelectronics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 4 Freelancer, Bonn, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Vitamin D is essential for cattle and can be synthesized in the skin under ultraviolet irradiation. This study investigated the effects of narrow-band UV-B irradiation during automatic milking on blood vitamin D concentration and the influence of hair and black skin areas on cutaneous vitamin D synthesis in Holstein Friesian cows. Fifty-one cows were stratified by milk yield, days after calving, and percentage of black skin, then divided into three groups: shaved and irradiated (80 J/m²), unshaved and irradiated (129-305 J/m²), and a control group. A custom UV-B light (peak radiation at 295 nm) was installed in the milking robot. Blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels were measured at baseline, and 7, 30, and 60 days post-exposure using an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay.UV-B exposure significantly (p<0.001) increased 25(OH)D levels in shaved (13.4 ng/mL), unshaved (10 ng/mL), and control groups (5.1 ng/mL). Despite receiving less than half the UV-B dose, the shaved group had superior 25(OH)D synthesis compared to the unshaved group (p<0.05), highlighting hair's role in reducing UV-B absorption. Cutaneous synthesis correlated with black skin area in shaved cows but not in unshaved cows. UV-B irradiation also increased daily milk production by 2.2 kg (shaved) and 2.9 kg (unshaved) compared to controls (p<0.001). UV-B exposure during automatic milking offers a novel, non-disruptive method for enhancing vitamin D levels in dairy cows.

    Keywords: ultraviolet-B light, Cattle, Vitamin D, Milk yield, Skin, Hair, Color

    Received: 15 May 2024; Accepted: 03 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hodnik, Jankovec, Ježek, Krusic, Mitterhofer and Starič. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jaka Jakob Hodnik, Clinic for Reproduction and Large Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, 1000, Slovenia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.