Maternal periconceptual nutrition, early pregnancy, and developmental outcomes in beef cattle

Abstract

The focus of this review is maternal nutrition during the periconceptual period and offspring developmental outcomes in beef cattle, with an emphasis on the first 50 d of gestation, which represents the embryonic period. Animal agriculture in general, and specifically the beef cattle industry, currently faces immense challenges. The world needs to significantly increase its output of animal food products by 2050 and beyond to meet the food security and agricultural sustainability needs of the rapidly growing human population. Consequently, efficient and sustainable approaches to livestock production are essential. Maternal nutritional status is a major factor that leads to developmental programming of offspring outcomes. Developmental programming refers to the influence of pre-and postnatal factors, such as inappropriate maternal nutrition, that affect growth and development and result in long-term consequences for health and productivity of the offspring. In this review, we discuss recent studies in which we and others have addressed the questions, "Is development programmed periconceptually?" and, if so, "Does it matter practically to the offspring in production settings?" The reviewed studies have demonstrated that the periconceptual period is important not only for pregnancy establishment but also may be a critical period during which fetal, placental, and potentially postnatal development and function are programmed. The evidence for fetal and placental programming during the periconceptual period is strong and implies that research efforts to mitigate the negative and foster the positive benefits of developmental programming need to include robust investigative efforts during the periconceptual period to better understand the implications for life-long health and productivity.

Keywords: developmental programming; early pregnancy; maternal nutrition; offspring outcomes; periconceptual period.

Figure 1.

Timeline of placental and embryonic-fetal development during early pregnancy in cattle. Data are taken from Dey et al. (2004), Diskin and Morris (2008), Eley et al. (1983), Ford (1985), Ford et al. (1979; 1981), McLean et al. (2017b), Northey and French (1980), and Winters et al. (1942). For a similar timeline in sheep, see Reynolds et al. (2014).

Figure 2.

Comparison of (A) glucose concentrations in allantoic and amniotic fluid, (B) glutamine concentrations in allantoic and amniotic fluid, (C) methionine concentrations in allantoic fluid, and (D) homocysteine concentrations in maternal serum of heifers receiving control or restricted dietary treatment from the day of mating (day 0) until day 50 of gestation. Treatments provided for 0.5 kg of gain/hd daily vs. –0.08 kg of gain/hd daily between days 0 and 50 of gestation for control vs. restricted heifers, respectively. Figure modified from Caton et al. (2019).

Figure 3.

The influence of nutritional treatment [CON average daily gain = 0.51 kg/d (NASEM, 2016), and RES received 60% of CON intake and had an average daily gain = −0.08 kg/d] initiated at breeding and stage of gestation (day 16, 34, or 50) on (A) mRNA expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in maternal intercaruncular endometrium of the uterine horn contralateral to the conceptus (NP-ICAR) during the first 50 d of pregnancy in beef heifers. Data presented as a 2^−ΔΔCT fold change normalized to β-actin and the average of non-bred, non-pregnant heifers. (B) mRNA expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in maternal caruncle of the uterine horn containing the conceptus (P-CAR). Data presented as a 2^−ΔΔCT fold change normalized to β-actin and the average of non-bred, non-pregnant heifers. (C) Vascular ratio in maternal intercaruncular endometrium contralateral to the conceptus (NP-ICAR) dependent on maternal dietary intake (control, restricted) and stage of gestation. Vascular ratio was calculated by dividing overall total vascular volume by total volume of tissue and expressing it as a percentage. (D) Effects of maternal dietary intake (control, restricted) on total vascular volume of fetal membranes in the uterine horn contralateral to the conceptus during the first 50 d of gestation. ^a,bMeans without a common superscript differ (P < 0.05). Figure modified from the data of McLean et al., (2017a, b).