Dietary supplementation of chitosan affects milk performance, markers of inflammatory response and antioxidant status in dairy cows

Abstract High-yielding cows produce a lot of free radicals in the body due to high levels of metabolism during lactation, causing oxidative stress and susceptibility to diseases. The influence and mechanism of chitosan (CHI) on antioxidant status and inflammatory response of dairy cows is unclear. This study investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of CHI on promoting milk production and antioxidant status, and reducing markers of inflammatory response of dairy cows. Forty multiple Holstein dairy cows (200 ± 15 days in milk, 34.8 ± 4.95 kg/d of milk yield) were randomly assigned to five treatments (n = 8): control (CON; without CHI addition), supplementation of CHI (mg/kg dietary DMI) with 500 (C500), 1000 (C1000), 1500 (C1500), or 2000 (C2000). The experiment period included 2 weeks for adaptation and 8 weeks for data and sample collection. Blood samples were collected on the 60th day to separate peripheral blood mononuclear cells. The results indicated that supplementation of CHI to the diet linearly increased the milk yield (P