Postpartum uterine health, and energy metabolism of primiparous and multiparous crossbred dairy cows raised in the Amazon biome

Abstract This study aimed to compare the biological activity of the uterus and the metabolism between primiparous and multiparous crossbred dairy cows. Eighteen crossbred dairy cows ( B. indicus x B. taurus ) were divided by parity order into primiparous (n = 8), and multiparous (n = 10) cows. These cows were evaluated from parturition to 50 days in milk (DIM) for metabolic and reproductive variables. Also, uterine tissue was collected using the cytobrush technique to assess the proportion of polymorphonuclear cells and abundance of transcripts of genes associated with inflammation and receptivity. Multiparous cows had greater milk production (P = 0.04). Primiparous cows had a higher (P ≤ 0.05) relative abundance of IL-6, PTCH2 , and PGR mRNA. In contrast, Multiparous cows had a higher relative abundance of IL-10 mRNA. The proportion of primiparous cows ovulating from calving to 50 DIM tended (P = 0.08) to be greater. Overall, the findings indicated that parity does not significantly affect energy metabolism and that multiparous cows have lower uterine inflammatory response associated with lower relative expression of IL-6 and higher relative expression of IL-10. These results led us to conclude that parity has little effect on the puerperium of crossbred dairy cows. Moreover, crossbred dairy cows were considered healthy by 50 DIM; however, further field studies with larger numbers of animals should be performed to define an optimal voluntary waiting period for crossbred dairy cows raised in the Amazon Biome.