vahid piri; farokh kafilzadeh
Volume 22, Issue 3 , September 2020, , Pages 379-389
Abstract
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of treating ground barley grain with lactic acid (LA) in starter diets on feed intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency, nutrient digestibility, skeletal growth, and blood metabolites of pre-weaneddairy calves. Thirty male Holstein calves with average ...
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This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of treating ground barley grain with lactic acid (LA) in starter diets on feed intake, average daily gain, feed efficiency, nutrient digestibility, skeletal growth, and blood metabolites of pre-weaneddairy calves. Thirty male Holstein calves with average initial body weight of 45.06±2.25 were randomly allocated to one of the 3 treatments. Starter containing 41% ground barley grain from day 4 to 65 of birth. Experimental treatments include: 1) diet containing treated barley in tap water (No LA), 2) diet containing treated barley in 0.5% LA solution, and 3) diet containing treated barley with 1% LA solution. Feed intake was recorded daily. Body weight and skeletal growth measures were recorded on day 4, day 35, and day 56. Calves blood samples were collected on day 4, 35, and 65. Total tract dry matter digestibility and feed efficiency were greater in calves fed diet containing lactic acid treated barley (p < /em> ≤0.05). No effects on dry matter intake, average daily gain, and blood metabolites was observed. At day 35 of the experiment the withers height and body length were greater in calves received LA-treated barely (p < /em> ≤0.05). It seems that treating barley grain with lactic acid decreased starch digestion in the rumen and increased starch flow to the small intestine; accordingly, feed efficiency was improved. Using higher levels of lactic acid may have a positive effect on calf performance.
alireza aghashahi; hadi hosseini; sayed abdoullah hosseini; AMIRREZA SAFAEI; Ali Reza Yousefi; Jafar Ramazankhany
Volume 21, Issue 3 , September 2019, , Pages 329-337
Abstract
This study was aimed to investigate the effect of adding dried dairy wastes to the starter diet on growth performance in Holstein dairy calves. A total of 28 female newborn Holstein dairy calves were randomly allocated to four groups (n=7/group) and after two weeks of habituation to experimental conditions ...
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This study was aimed to investigate the effect of adding dried dairy wastes to the starter diet on growth performance in Holstein dairy calves. A total of 28 female newborn Holstein dairy calves were randomly allocated to four groups (n=7/group) and after two weeks of habituation to experimental conditions and diet, in a completely randomized design, individually fed starter diets containing 0 (control), 10, 20, or 30% dried dairy waste up to eight weeks of age. Feed intake, weight gain, and feed efficiency (gained weight/consumed feed) were measured weekly, during the experimental period. Results showed that body weight, weight gain, feed intake, and feed efficiency were not affected by the treatments. Interactive effect of treatments by week showed that the highest weight gain was for calves fed by the diet containing 10% dairy waste or control group at first week. However, the highest gain was recorded for those that received 30% dairy waste at week five of the experiment (P<0.05). In conclusion, the results of the present study revealed that the inclusion of dried dairy products up to 30% of calves’ starter diet had no adverse effect on performance, and therefore can be used as an affordable and valuable nutritional by-product of the dairy industry in the nutrition of calves.