EN
The nutrition of highly productive dairy cows is a broad and very specialized area for both science and practice. The understanding of the nutritional influence on bovine health in the peripaturient period is a base for the prevention and therapy of many noninfectious, metabolic as well as some infectious diseases which may frequently occur and coexist during and after delivery in high yielding cows. Physiological changes during the periparturient period arising from calving and lactation and their relationship to metabolic disorders like: negative energy and protein balance, hypoglycemia, ketosis, fatty liver complex, hypocalcemia, hypophosphatemia and abnormality of hormonal, trace elements and vitamin status, are often observed on dairy farms. These health problems ought to be resolved by nutritionists, veterinarians and farmers who have knowledge, a high level of competence and real influence on animals. The metabolic disorders cause metabolic stress in cows that have a great influence on the immune function causing its suppression. Immune suppression around the time of calving causes a significant increase of the clinical cases of retained fetal membranes, metritis, endometritis, mastitis and other infectious diseases in cows. The basic relationships between different diseases that often occur at the periparturient period of highly productive dairy cows are presented in this paper.