PROTEIN/ENERGY SUPPLEMENTATION TO BEEF HEIFERS DURING MID-GESTATION: FETAL PROGRAMMING AND LONG-TERM OUTCOMES ON OFFSPRING MUSCLE DEVELOPMENT

My long-term research goals are to evaluate the multifaceted impacts of maternal nutrition in beef cattle on developmental programming outcomes observed in the offspring postnatally. My mission is to develop successful management approaches for pregnant beef cattle to improve herd longevity, productivity, and overall success. These efforts will focus on enhancing offspring skeletal muscle formation and will contribute to supplying beef to the global population. In this proposal, I focus on the fetal programming impacts of providing protein and energy supplementation to mid-gestation beef heifers on skeletal muscle size, number, and composition, gene expression, and offspring growth performance at key postnatal stages.The short-term goals of this project are to determine the mechanisms connected with the impacts of maternal nutrition on skeletal muscle and the growth performance of female offspring. I hypothesize that providing protein and energy supplementation to beef heifers in mid-gestation will positively impact offspring muscle fiber diameter and number, collagen and adipocyte content, gene expression, and overall postnatal growth performance.This proposal will address my Specific Objectives, which are to evaluate the impacts of providing a protein and energy supplement to beef heifers during mid-gestation on: 1) the differential expression of genes acting in pathways related to skeletal muscle development of calves at birth, weaning, and at one year of age; 2) muscle fiber diameter and number, and adipocyte and collagen content in skeletal muscle of beef calves at key postnatal stages; and 3) offspring postnatal growth performance.