Changes in Parameters Registered by Innovative Technologies in Cows with Subclinical Acidosis

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

interesting study, which can be used by other to improve health and welfare of dairy cows. But at some points you are completely not consistent in your paper, e.g. about the selection of your animals and the the days you are focussing etc.

More in detail:

page 4: from 1160 cows , you select 320 within 5-30 days and later focussing on 98 cow and select 59 cows within 31 DIM. and in table 1 DIM is >150 DIM, I do not understand where these cows are over the top of lactation and have had their max intake of concentrate already

more in detail:

line 20: ... represent an important avenue...

line 40: Cows with SCA had 18.8% lower reticulorumen pH and a 10.49% decrease in milk yield --> for me as a critical reviewer, an figure behind the comma is ok here and is this significant or not??

line 59: ... by research [4-6] .

line 63: ... according previous studies [7-10]. etc.

Definition of SARA is to my opnion a ruminal pH drop below 5.5 and also for a longer period of time. Make your definitions used here clear.

line 134: a hypothesis is something to be evaluated and statistically tested and than accepted or rejected.

Material and methods: cow selection is not clear

line 164: your definition of SCA is her < 6.22 and what are the criteria for the other parameters??

line 177: is this a validated system

line 186: focus on optmal health?? and welfare??

Table 1: think about the number you present behind the comma in relation to N, also for the P-value max 2 

line 252: Cow daily activity: how is that defined??

Discussion later

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Author Response

Answers for First Reviewer

Thank you for your insightful comments and suggestions. We have carefully considered and addressed each point raised by the reviewer. Below are our detailed responses to each comment:

Comment: interesting study, which can be used by other to improve health and welfare of dairy cows. But at some points you are completely not consistent in your paper, e.g. about the selection of your animals and the the days you are focussing etc.

Response: Thank you for your comments and suggestions. We have corrected the entire manuscript accordingly. Additionally, we have revised the selection of animals for this study.

 

Comment: page 4: from 1160 cows , you select 320 within 5-30 days and later focussing on 98 cow and select 59 cows within 31 DIM. and in table 1 DIM is >150 DIM, I do not understand where these cows are over the top of lactation and have had their max intake of concentrate already

Response: This was a mistake. We corrected information – “From the 1160 cows examined, 59 were selected for the study, focusing on those in their second or subsequent lactations and within the first 5 to 30 days post-calving“ .

The 59 selected animals were separated in two groups based on general clinical examination and reticulorumen pH: : the subclinical acidosis group (SCA, n=23), and the healthy cow group (HC, n=36).

We corrected this table - “

DIM	HC	36	17.85	0.84	0.32	11.52	14.23	5.00	30.00
	SCA	23	19.32	0.76	0.22	13.23	15.23	5.00	30.00

 

 

Comment: line 20: ... represent an important avenue...

Response: we corrected to – “These advancements represent an important avenue for value creation across various stakeholders, with farmers primarily benefiting from its utility as a versatile tool“

 

Comment: line 40: Cows with SCA had 18.8% lower reticulorumen pH and a 10.49% decrease in milk yield --> for me as a critical reviewer, an figure behind the comma is ok here and is this significant or not??

Response: We corrected to – “Cows with subclinical acidosis had a lower reticulorumen pH by 18.8% (pP<0.0001), a decreased milk yield by 10.49% (p<0.001), a lower milk fat-to-protein ratio by 11.88% (p<0.01), and a decreased rumination time by 6.59% (p<0.01). However, the activity of these cows was higher by 57.19% (p<0.001) compared to healthy cows.”

Comment: line 59: ... by research [4-6] .

Response: We corrected to – “While high starch diets are essential, they also heightens the likelihood of developing subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA), as evidenced by research [4-6]“.

Comment: line 63: ... according previous studies [7-10]. etc.

Response: We corrected to – “SARA is a widely acknowledged digestive issue in high-producing dairy cows, detrimentally affecting both animal welfare and the economic efficiency of dairy farms, especially in well-run operations, according to previous studies [7-10].”

Comment: Definition of SARA is to my opnion a ruminal pH drop below 5.5 and also for a longer period of time. Make your definitions used here clear.

Response: We corrected these sentences - “SARA is defined as a condition in which the ruminal pH drops below 5.6 for a prolonged period. Additionally, cows with a pH lower than 5.6 had higher ruminal temperatures [18].

Comment: line 134: a hypothesis is something to be evaluated and statistically tested and than accepted or rejected.

Response: We corrected to – “The hypothesis of this study was that subclinical acidosis in cows impacts the in-line milk fat-to-protein ratio, reticulorumen pH, reticulorumen temperature, cow activity, and water intake, as registered by innovative technologies.“

 

Comment: Material and methods: cow selection is not clear

Response: This was a mistake. We corrected this section - “From the 1160 cows examined, 59 were selected for the study, focusing on those in their second or subsequent lactations and within the first 5 to 30 days post-calving.”

“The 59 selected animals were separated in two groups based on general clinical examination and reticulorumen pH: : the subclinical acidosis group (SCA, n=23), and the healthy cow group (HC, n=36).”

 

Comment: line 164: your definition of SCA is her < 6.22 and what are the criteria for the other parameters??

Response: We corrected to - “The SCA group was created based on signs of subclinical acidosis, such as rumen motility rates of five to six times every three minutes, moderate to severe diarrhea, and the presence of undigested food particles in their feces. To analyze fiber content, fecal matter was passed through a sieve [26]. Based on the reticulorumen pH test, the pH level of the reticulorumen was found to be below 6.22 [27], and the milk fat-to-protein ratio was less than 1.2 [26].

 

Comment: line 177: is this a validated system

Response: We corrected to – “Each BROLIS HerdLine in-line milk analyzer is calibrated, and its accuracy was evaluated in the Eurofins lab. The resulting values of the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) were 0.21% for fat, 0.19% for protein, and 0.19% for lactose”

 

Comment: line 186: focus on optmal health?? and welfare??

Response: We corrected to - “Reticulorumen parameters (temperature (RT), pH, total reticulated rumination (TRR)), and physical activity were monitored using smaXtec boluses, developed by smaXtec animal care technology® in Graz, Austria, with a focus on animal health and welfare.”

 

Comment: Table 1: think about the number you present behind the comma in relation to N, also for the P-value max 2

Response: It was a mistake, we corrected N in to -

HC	36
SCA	23
Total	59

 

line 252: Cow daily activity: how is that defined??

We also corrected P

 

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Very interesting manuscript.

General comments,

please convert all pH values to H ion before running stats. It is inappropriate to take a mean pH. Calculate the mean H ion and then convert that to pH. You will have to present SEM as Hion.

Reference section appears to be an edited one, not the original that should be with the paper -please fix

Specific

74-75 ...other studies ( Krause and Oetzal.....).

79-80 same as above remove " as highlighted by" and just put the authors in parentheses

93 Cantor et al (17) thne omit 17 at the end of the sentence.

96 same as above add the number after the author not at the end of the sentence

same for 104 check throughout the remainder of the paper

144 omit year round

144 a random s in the middle of the sentence

148-150 Do not need to put the nutritional breakdown since it is presented in table 1 -just refer to table 1

Did you feed for a certain percentage of refusals or to a clean bunk, if to a clean bunk how long were the cows away from feed?

How much bunkspace did the cows have and what % were primiparous?

Generally add morre cow information

163 please correct the sentence

185 specify?

186 name needs to be capitalized and city  country needs to be in parentheses 

191 Boluses...

212 Technologie

225 less than sign not =

229 cow activity

Table 2 Correlation

288-290 You use Innovative technologies twice in the sentence please reword

300 the ? do you mean there

307 omit "a"

308 what do you mean "real farm"

335 herdmates not mates further down this part as well 

 

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

English is adequate

Author Response

Answers for Second Reviewer

 

 

Comment: Very interesting manuscript.

Response: Thank you very much for your positive response. We have corrected the entire manuscript according to your comments and suggestions.

Comment: please convert all pH values to H ion before running stats. It is inappropriate to take a mean pH. Calculate the mean H ion and then convert that to pH. You will have to present SEM as Hion.

Response: we corrected according to your commendation -

Std. Error
6.94×10−8 M of H+ ion
2.42×10−72.42×10−7 M of H+ ion
1.56×10−7 M of H+ ion..

 

We added this statement in to introduction section - All pH values were converted to H⁺ ion concentration before running the statistics. The mean H⁺ ion concentration was calculated and then converted to pH. The SEM was presented as H⁺ ion concentration.

Comment: Reference section appears to be an edited one, not the original that should be with the paper -please fix

Response: Corrected

Comment: 74-75 ...other studies ( Krause and Oetzal.....).

Response: We corrected to “Cows affected by SARA do not exhibit specific clinical symptoms of illness, as noted in other studies (Krause and Oetzel [6], Mutsvangwa et al. [15]).”

Comment: 79-80 same as above remove " as highlighted by" and just put the authors in parentheses

Response: We corrected to - “Nevertheless, SARA has been linked to inflammation in various organs and tissues within dairy cows. Its effects are varied and multifaceted, leading to decreased feed consumption, further exacerbating erratic eating patterns, lower digestibility of the diet, diminished milk production, a drop in the percentage of milk fat, gastrointestinal injuries, liver abscesses, and lameness [6], [7].”

Comment: 93 Cantor et al (17) thne omit 17 at the end of the sentence.

Response: We corrected to - “Cantor et al. [17], contended that real-time monitoring of reticulorumen pH and temperature is advantageous for evaluating the risk of SARA, especially in high-risk groups of cattle, such as cows in early lactation.”

Comment: 96 same as above add the number after the author not at the end of the sentence

Response: We corrected to - “Alzahal et al. [18] evaluated the relationship between the pH and ruminal temperature of the animals.”

Comment: same for 104 check throughout the remainder of the paper

Response: We corrected to - “According to similar research by Cooper-Prado et al. [19] ruminal temperature decreases one day before parturition.”

Comment: 144 omit year round

Response: We corrected to - “Conducted in Lithuania, the research spanned from October 1 to November 30, 2023 dairy cows were housed in free-stall barns equipped with ventilation systems and received a balanced total mixed ration (TMR) tailored to their physiological requirements.”

Comment: 144 a random s in the middle of the sentence

Response: We deleted ‘s”

Comment: 148-150 Do not need to put the nutritional breakdown since it is presented in table 1 -just refer to table 1

Response: We deleted this sentence. 

Comment: Did you feed for a certain percentage of refusals or to a clean bunk, if to a clean bunk how long were the cows away from feed?

Response: We added - “The cows were fed from a clean bunk. Any leftover feed was cleaned out every day at 5:00.”

During this time cows were at the milking parlor. “Milking was carried out twice daily at 05:00 and 17:00 in a parlor system.”

Comment: How much bunkspace did the cows have and what % were primiparous?

Response: We added this information - “The average bunk space per cow was approximately 65 centimeters”

There were no primiparous cows. We added - “From the 1160 cows examined, 59 were selected for the study, focusing on those in their second or subsequent lactations and within the first 5 to 30 days post-calving"

Comment: Generally add morre cow information

Response: we have added cow information according to your suggestions.

Comment: 163 please correct the sentence

Response: We corrected to - “The 59 selected animals were separated into two groups based on general clinical examination and reticulorumen pH: the subclinical acidosis group (SCA, n=23) and the healthy cow group (HC, n=36).”

Comment: 185 specify?

Response: We corrected to - “R Reticulorumen parameters (temperature (RT), pH, total reticulated rumination (TRR)), and physical activity were monitored using SmaXtec boluses, developed by SmaXtec animal care technology® (Graz, Austria), with a focus on animal health and welfare.”

 

Comment: 186 name needs to be capitalized and city  country needs to be in parentheses

Response: We corrected to - “.. SmaXtec boluses, developed by SmaXtec animal care technology® (Graz, Austria)..”

Comment: 191 Boluses...

Response: Corrected

Comment: 212 Technologie

Response: We corrected to - “Simultaneously, by using Smaxtec Techmologie, reticulorumen parameters..”

Comment: 225 less than sign not =

Response: We corrected to - “... with significance determined at a probability of less than 0.05.”

Comment: 229 cow activity

Response: We corrected to - “.. cow activity..”

Comment: Table 2 Correlation

Response: We corrected to - “Table 3. Correlation between milk fat -to protein ratio and other parameters”

Comment: 288-290 You use Innovative technologies twice in the sentence please reword

Response: We corrected this paragraph to - “Based on our aim of this study, which was to identify changes in the in-line milk fat-to-protein ratio and cow feeding behaviors such as reticulorumen pH, reticulorumen temperature, cow activity, and water intake with subclinical acidosis., it can be inferred that while biomarkers registered by innovative technologies in cows with subclinical acidosis, we may infer that while the activity of subclinical acidotic cows was 57.19% higher than that of healthy cows, they exhibited the following characteristics: an 18.8% lower reticulorumen pH, a 10.49% decrease in milk yield, an 11.88% lower milk fat-to-protein ratio, and a 6.59% decrease in ruminating time”

Comment: 300 the ? do you mean there

Response: We corrected to - “However, there was negative correlation and did not align with our findings”

Comment: 307 omit "a"

Response: We corrected to - “.. find strong..”

Comment: 308 what do you mean "real farm"

Response: We corrected to - “..commercial farm..”

Comment: 335 herdmates not mates further down this part as well

Response: We corrected to - “On the day of diagnosis, there were consistent decreases in rumination activity for each health condition, both within the cow and in comparison to cohorts of healthy cows [35]”

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Dear authors,

thank you for resubmitting your manuscript. I have read carefully and just a small no. of recommendations

Introduction;

line 77-78: Cows ... ilness [6,15]

line 95-97: Reticulorumen ... health, when used .. herds [17]. Real time monitoring of ... lactation [17].

line 111-112: According to previous research , ruminal temperature ... parturition [19].

Discussion: Do not start with repeating the aim of your study --> we know already - so skip line 319-321 and start here with the main results of your study   

Author Response

Comments 1: thank you for resubmitting your manuscript. I have read carefully and just a small no. of recommendations

Response 1: thank you very much for your review, comments and suggestions.

Introduction;

Comments 2: line 77-78: Cows ... ilness [6,15]

Response 2: We corrected to – “Cows affected by SARA do not exhibit specific clinical symptoms of illness [6,15].

Comments 3: line 95-97: Reticulorumen ... health, when used .. herds [17]. Real time monitoring of ... lactation [17].

Response 3: We corrected to – “Reticulorumen temperature is a useful indicator of cattle health, when used in conjunction with water intake measurements in dairy herds [17]”

“Real-time monitoring of reticulorumen pH and temperature is advantageous for evaluating the risk of SARA, especially in high-risk groups of cattle, such as cows in early lactation [17].”

Comments 4: line 111-112: According to previous research , ruminal temperature ... parturition [19].

Response 4: we corrected to – “According to previous research, ruminal temperature decreases one day before parturition [19]. “

Comments 5: Discussion: Do not start with repeating the aim of your study --> we know already - so skip line 319-321 and start here with the main results of your study   

Response 5: we corrected first sentence to – “According to our results, the activity of subclinical acidotic cows was 57.19% higher than that of healthy cows, they exhibited the following characteristics: an 18.8% lower reticulorumen pH, a 10.49% decrease in milk yield, an 11.88% lower milk fat-to-protein ratio, and a 6.59% decrease in ruminating time.”