Deconstructing milk yield and composition during lactation using biologically based lactation models.

A recently developed biological model of lactation described changes in daily milk yield throughout lactation as the result of 3 processes, secretory cell differentiation, cell death, and secretion rate per cell. This paper extends the model to describe the production of milk components (fat, protein, lactose, and water) throughout lactation by replacing milk secretion rate of the original model with the secretion rates of the four components. The milk component model approach was used to examine the relationship between milk yield and the major determinants of its production, using the secretion of milk components throughout lactation. Newly derived models were tested on 461 lactations from a single Holstein herd and used to estimate variability of secretion rates throughout lactation. Because the pattern of cell numbers throughout lactation is not precisely known, an alternative pattern of cell numbers was modeled and the concomitant change in secretion rates outlined. Fat secretion rate was the most variable, as measured by its weekly coefficient of variation throughout lactation. Secretion rates of lactose and water were nearly constant throughout lactation and highly correlated (0.94). Fat and protein secretion rates also were well correlated (0.53). The known biochemistry of milk component production related well to the secretion rate observations derived from the model. Lactose secretion rate and numbers of active secretory cells primarily determined daily milk yield.