mohammad ali ahangarani; abbas ali naserian
Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript, Available Online from 21 September 2020
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of flax oil and flaxseed in milk and starter on performance, growth, health, blood and rumen parameters of suckling calves during 4 periods include: d 0-14, d 15-30, d 31-weaning and d 0- weaning. 45 calves were randomly divided into 3 experimental ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of flax oil and flaxseed in milk and starter on performance, growth, health, blood and rumen parameters of suckling calves during 4 periods include: d 0-14, d 15-30, d 31-weaning and d 0- weaning. 45 calves were randomly divided into 3 experimental treatments from day 3 of birth. Experimental treatments included: milk and basal diet without fat supplementation (control), milk and basal diet with fat powder (treatment 2), milk and basal diet with flaxoil and 8% of flaxseed (treatment 3). weaning weight, Feed intake and daily weight gain were higher in calves fed flaxseed in period 3 and 4 respectively(P≤0.05). Weaning age was higher in control group than other groups (P≤0.05). There was no difference in mean of skeletal growth factors, but calves fed flaxseed diet had higher hip height at weaning (P≤0.05). Blood cholesterol concentration was highest in control group and blood cortisol concentration was lowest in flax group (P≤0.05). The concentration of total protein to albumin in calves fed flaxseed was lowest (P≤0.05). Ruminal parameters were not affected by the experimental treatments (P≥0.05). The results of this study showed that usage of fat sources, especially omega-3 in milk and calf starter would have a positive effect on the performance, growth and health of pre-weaning infants.