• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제17권5호
• /
• pp.659-662
• /
• 2004

A growth trial of 60 days with 16 male buffalo calves (10 to 11 months age; 100${\pm}$7 kg live weight mean) was conducted to investigate comparative efficacy of cottonseed meal (CSM) and sunflower meal (SFM). Cottonseed meal was substituted isonitrogenously with SFM at 0, 12, 24 and 36% levels in four rations viz. A, B, C and D. Daily feed consumption was 5.07, 4.30, 4.17 and 3.20 kg, while daily weight gain was recorded to be 0.98, 0.74, 0.57 and 0.33 kg under rations A, B, C and D, respectively. In the digestibility and nitrogen balance trial using eight calves, digestibility of organic matter was 63.2, 62.9, 62.1 and 61.7, respectively. Nitrogen retained as percent of intake did not differ significantly. Sunflower meal was purchased at half the price of CSM but economics of weight gain did not favor SFM inclusion in rations. Results suggested that SFM should not be fed to buffalo calves gaining more than 0.7 kg/day.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제24권12호
• /
• pp.1711-1717
• /
• 2011

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of glutathione (GSH) on health, solid feed consumption, nutrient intake, body weight gain (BWG), feed efficiency, blood metabolites and the occurrence of diarrhea in Holstein neonatal calves. The calves were fed plain milk as a control (CON) or milk with GSH supplementation. Sixteen calves were separated from their mothers immediately after birth, moved into individual cages and fed colostrum for the first three days. For GSH supplementation, three grams of GSH powder were mixed in 1.8 L of heat-treated milk and placed in a plastic bottle with a rubber nipple. The calves were fed GSH-supplemented milk only once out of four daily feedings. For the first 25 d, calves were fed 1.8 L of milk four times per day. Milk feeding frequency was reduced to three times per day from days 26 to 30, followed by twice a day from days 31 to 44, and once a day from days 45 to 49, after which they were weaned at day 50. Body weight gain (BWG), feed consumption, and growth performance were monitored until day 70. The dietary supplementation of GSH had no effect on daily feed intake and growth performance in growing calves. Hematological results revealed red blood cell distribution width (RDW) was lower, and mean corpuscular volume (MCV) was significantly higher in calves fed GSH. Serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) concentrations were lower in calves fed GSH. Rectal temperature at day 70 was higher in calves that did not receive GSH, while mean frequency of diarrhea and enteritis was less in calves fed GSH. It is concluded from the present study that BW gain, total dry matter intake (DMI), feed efficiency, and breathing rate did not differ between groups. However, there were some positive blood parameters and the mean frequency of diarrhea and enteritis was less in calves fed GSH compared to CON which did not receive GSH. With the results obtained, supplementation of GSH is highly recommended.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제15권4호
• /
• pp.522-527
• /
• 2002

The experiment was conducted for a period of 56 days with twelve Bangladeshi bull calves of average body weight of $127.20{\pm}11.34$ kg. The calves were divided into 3 groups having 4 animals in each. The animals were fed urea-treated rice straw designated as A) 4% urea-treated rice straw, B) 4% urea+4% soybean-treated rice straw and C) 4% urea+6% soybean-treated rice straw. In addition, all the animals were supplied 2 kg green grass, 350 g Til-oil-cake and 100 g common salt per 100 kg body weight of animals. Straw was treated with 4% urea solution and soybean meal at 4 and 6% were added to treated straw and kept for 48 h in double layer polythene bags under anaerobic condition. Urea treatment improved crude protein (CP) content of rice straw from 2.68 to 8.70% and it was further increased by 10.74 and 12.12% with the addition of 4 and 6% soybean meal. Dry matter (DM) intake (kg) was higher (p<0.05) in C (4.2) followed by B (4.1) and A (4.0). Crude protein intake was significantly higher (p<0.05) in group B and C than group A. Total live weight gains were 20.2, 24.8 and 25.6 kg for calves of group A, B and C respectively (p<0.01). The addition of soybean meal to treated rice straw did not affect the coefficients of digestibility of DM, OM, EE and NFE. However, CP and CF digestibility were significantly higher in group B and C (p<0.05). The values for digestible crude protein (DCP), digestible ether extract (DEE), digestible nitrogen free extract (DNFE) and total digestible nutrients (TDN) were significantly (p<0.05) higher in diet C and B in comparison to diet A, but there were no significant difference in digestible organic matter (DOM) and digestible crude fibre (DCF) value among the groups. It may be concluded that 4% urea treated rice straw can be fed to growing bull calves with 2 kg green grass and a small quantity of concentrate without any adverse effect on feed intake and growth. Moreover, soybean meal at 4 and 6% can be added to urea treated rice straw at the time of treatment for rapid hydrolyzing of urea, which resulted an improvement in nutrient digestibility and better utilization of rice straw for growth of growing bull calves.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제13권6호
• /
• pp.761-773
• /
• 2000

Eighteen growing male Murrah buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves were divided into three groups consisting of six animals each and fed three urea ammoniated wheat straw (UAS) -based rations supplemented with concentrate mixtures (roughage: concentrate ratio 58:42) containing deoiled ground nut cake, GNC (8%), formaldehyde treated GNC (8%) or fish meal (8%) to undertake comparative evaluation of these rations in terms of their $CH_4$ production and growth (285 d duration) potential. A digestibility trial (10 d duration) was followed by a comparative calorimetric study in respiration chamber. Dry matter (DM) intake (84.3 to $89.3g/kg\;W^{0.75}d^{-1}$) did not differ between treatments. The digestibility coefficient of DM, organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral and acid detergent fiber did not differ significantly in different diets. Urinary energy loss as a percent of gross energy (GE) was not affected by diets. Average values of $CH_4$ production were 84.3, 77.6 and 99.1 g/d and $CH_4$ energy losses as percent of gross energy were 5.7, 5.2 and 6.1 percent on .GNC, formaldehyde treated GNC and fishmeal, respectively, and did not differ significantly. When expressed per unit of digestible OM intake, $CH_4$ production (g) was lower (p<0.05) on formaldehyde treated GNC (30.6) than on untreated GNC (30.6) and fish meal (31.9). Total ME intake and heat production were similar and hence the energy balances on different diets were similar. Nutritive value of rations in terms of digestible CP and ME were similar. Average daily gain calculated on the basis of regression of fortnights on cumulative liveweight gain in calves fed on concentrate containing unprotected GNC, protected GNC and fish meal were 437.1, 483.9 and 481.6 g, respectively. This indicated that the intake of energy was sufficient to meet the requirement of calves growing at 400 g per d. However, CP intake was around 150% of the stipulated standard (Kearl, 1982). Feed conversion ratios on unprotected GNC, protected GNC and fish meal were 11.60, 11.10 and 10.4 respectively. It was concluded that because significantly (p<0.05) low $CH_4$ is produced on protected GNC (8%), it is very good and sustainable protein source in comparison to poor quality fish meal and untreated GNC to be used in concentrate mixture for supplementing UAS-based diets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제11권4호
• /
• pp.385-390
• /
• 1998

An experiment was conducted for 90 days using 9 growing bull calves (initial LW 71.5 kg) to investigate the effect of replacing til oil cake by poultry excreta on growth performance and nutrient utilization. The animals were randomly divided into three groups. The control group A was fed with conventional concentrate mixture containing til oil cake, rice bran, wheat bran, bone meal and common salt and the groups B and C were offered diets in which 50 and 100 percent of til oil cake of diet A were replaced by dried poultry excreta. All the animals were fed urea soaked rice straw ad libitum and concentrate mixture was given at the rate of 10 g per kg LW. Towards the end of growth trial a conventional digestibility trial was conducted. Average daily live weight gain was 216, 211 and 188 g for animals fed diets A, B and C, respectively. Average daily dry matter intake in groups A, B and C was 3.42, 3.37 and 3.30 kg per 100 kg LW, respectively. The daily live weight gain and dry matter intake did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) among the dietary groups. The digestibility coefficient for DM or NFE was almost similar but that for OM, CP, CF and EE was significantly different (p < 0.01) among the dietary groups. TDN percent in diets A, B and C was 57.3 53.3 and 50.8, respectively and the difference was significant (p < 0.01). Animals in all the groups were in a state of positive nitrogen balance. The results indicated that til oil cake can be replaced by dried poultry excreta in bull calf ration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제26권2호
• /
• pp.202-210
• /
• 2013

This study elucidated the effects of limited concentrate feeding on growth, plasma profile, and gene expression of gluconeogenic enzymes and visfatin in the liver of Hanwoo beef calves. The purpose of this study was to test that reducing the amount of concentrate would partially be compensated by increasing the intake of forage and by altering the metabolic status. The study utilized 20 Korean native beef calves (Hanwoo; 60 to 70 d of age) divided into two groups of 10 calves each for 158 d. Control group calves received the amount of concentrate as per the established Korean feeding standards for Hanwoo, whereas calves in the restricted group only received half the amount of concentrate as per standard requirements. Good quality forage (Timothy hay) was available for ad libitum consumption to both groups. Since calves were with their dam until 4 months of age in breeding pens before weaning, the intake of milk before weaning was not recorded, however, the concentrate and forage intakes were recorded daily. Body weights (BW) were recorded at start and on 10 d interval. Blood samples were collected at start and at 50 d interval. On the final day of the experiment, liver biopsies were collected from all animals in each group. The BW was not different between the groups at all times, but tended to be higher (p = 0.061) only at final BW in control than restricted group. Total BW gain in the control group was 116.2 kg as opposed to 84.1 kg in restricted group that led to average BW gain of 736 g/d and 532 g/d in respective groups, and the differences were significant (p<0.01). As planned, the calves in the control group had higher concentrate and lower forage intake than the restricted group. The plasma variables like total protein and urea were higher (p<0.05) in control than restricted group. The mRNA expressions for the gluconeogenic enzymes such as cytosolic phosphoenol pyruvate carboxykinase (EC 4.1.1.32) and pyruvate carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.1), and visfatin measured by quantitative real-time PCR in liver biopsies showed higher expression (p<0.05) in restricted group than control. Overall, restricting concentrate severely reduced the growth intensity and affected few plasma indices, and gene expression in liver was increased indicating that restricting concentrate in the feeding schemes during early growth for beef calves is not advocated.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제17권4호
• /
• pp.485-490
• /
• 2004

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of feeding ammoniated wheat straw treated with and without HCl on meat quality and various sensory attributes of growing male buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) calves. Due to urea-ammoniation, the CP content of wheat straw increased from 2.90 to 6.96%. The addition of HCl along with urea during urea-ammoniation further increased the CP content to 10.09%. The proximate composition (% fresh basis) of psoas major, longissimus dorsi and semitendinosus were comparable among the groups. However, comparatively higher cumulative muscle mean protein and ash percentage and lower moisture percentage in groups II and III in comparison to group I indicated the desirable effect of feeding AWS and HCl-AWS. The cumulative muscle mean pH in group III (5.54) was comparatively lower than group I (5.65) and II (5.62). The cumulative group mean pH and water holding capacity (% water retained) in semitendinosus was comparatively lower than psoas major and longissimus dorsi. The cumulative muscle mean SSP (g%) was significantly (p<0.05) lower in group III (41.78) than group I (42.45). The cumulative group mean cooking loss (%) was significantly (p<0.01) lower in psoas major (31.61) and longissimus dorsi (29.78) than semitendinosus (35.10). The cumulative group mean SFV (kg/$cm^{2}$) of psoas major, longissimus dorsi and semitendinosus were 6.38, 6.32 and 6.56, respectively, being lowest in psoas major and highest in semitendinosus. However, the cumulative muscle mean SFV (kg/$cm^{2}$) in group I, II and III were 6.53, 6.56 and 6.17, respectively, being lowest in group III and highest in group II. The scores of the cooked (2% common salt) buffen for various sensory attributes viz. appearance, flavour, juiciness, texture, mouth coating and overall palatability were comparable among the groups. Results suggested that feeding of ammoniated wheat straw treated with and without HCl to growing male buffalo calves for 180 days had no adverse effect on the meat quality and various sensory attributes.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제6권3호
• /
• pp.377-381
• /
• 1993

Twenty male crossbred ($Sahiwal{\times}HF$) calves of about 6-9 months of age were divided into four groups of five animals each. All the animals were offered wheat straw ad lib. As the basal feed. However, animals in group I were fed concentrate mixture while the animals in groups II, III and IV had free access to urea molasses mineral block (UMMB) lick (I), (II) and (III) respectively as a partial substitute of concentrate mixture. The average concentrate offered (kg/day) to the animals was significantly (p<0.01) higher in group I ($2.69{\pm}0.18$) compared to groups II ($1.76{\pm}0.15$), III ($1.70{\pm}0.06$) and IV ($1.65{\pm}0.12$). The UMMB lick consumed was non-significantly different amongst groups I ($535.40{\pm}38.14$), II ($525.60{\pm}31.82$), III ($551.00{\pm}38.49$) and IV ($548.80{\pm}45.46$). Except ether extract, the digestibility coefficients of CP, ADF and NDF were non-significantly different in different groups. Similarly, N balance (g/day) and percent N retention of intake was not affected in different groups on supplementation of UMMB lick. Body composition of animals was similar in different groups supplemented with either concentrate mixture or concentrate mixture and UMMB licks. It may be concluded from these studies that UMMB lick can partially replace the concentrate mixture in the diet of growing calves without affecting the growth rate, nutrient utilization and body composition. The UMMB lick, thus, can form a part of the ration economically in the diet of growing ruminants especially in developing countries.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제15권5호
• /
• pp.682-686
• /
• 2002

Ten growing male buffalo calves (aged 6-8 months, average body weight $88.2{\pm}0.57$ kg were divided randomly into two groups. Animals in group I were fed on concentrate mixture A (CP 20.2%, TDN 77.4%) and urea- ammoniated wheat straw (UAWS) while the animals in group II were fed on concentrate mixture B (CP 17.9%, TDN 77.6%) and HCl plus urea treated wheat straw (HCl UAWS) to meet their nutrient requirement for 500 g gain/d as per Kearl (1982). This feeding practice lasted for 120 days, during which fortnightly body weight were recorded to assess their growth rate. A metabolism trial was conducted after 90 days of experimental feeding to compare the digestibility of nutrients, their balance, plane of nutrition and relative cost of feeding in two groups of animals. Results revealed a significant increase in the CP content of ammoniated wheat straw due to addition of HCl viz 12.1% from 7.5%. There was a decrease in the intake of DM (p<0.05), OM (p<0.05), EE (p<0.05), NDF (p<0.01), ADF (p<0.01), cellulose (p<0.01) and hemicellulose (p<0.01) in group II as compared to group I. The digestibility (%) of DM, OM and CP was significantly (p<0.01) more in group II, whereas the digestibility (%) was significantly more for NDF (p<0.05) and hemicellulose (p<0.01) in group I than group II. There was no significant difference in the N, Ca and P balance in two groups. Intake of total DM (g/d) or (g/kg $W^{0.75}$) was significantly (p<0.01) more in group I as compared to group II, whereas the intake of DCP and TDN (g/d or g/kg $W^{0.75}$) was alike in two groups. The total body weight gain (kg), average daily gain (g/d) and feed conversion efficiency were significantly (p<0.01) more in UAWS fed group as compared to HCl UAWS fed group. Feeding cost (Rs./kg. weight gain) was significantly (p<0.05) more in group II as compared to group I. It is concluded that HCl UAWS is not suitable for the feeding of growing buffalo calves as it reduced the growth rate in comparison to UAWS fed buffalo calves.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
• /
• 제26권7호
• /
• pp.935-944
• /
• 2013

Essential oils have been shown to favorably effect in vitro ruminal fermentation, but there are few in vivo studies that have examined animal responses. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of thyme (THY) and cinnamon (CIN) essential oils on feed intake, growth performance, ruminal fermentation and blood metabolites in feedlot calves fed high-concentrate diets. Twelve growing Holstein calves ($213{\pm}17kg$ initial BW) were used in a completely randomized design and received their respective dietary treatments for 45 d. Treatments were: 1-control (no additive), 2-THY (5 g/d/calf) and 3-CIN (5 g/d/calf). Calves were fed ad libitum diets consisting of 15% forage and 85% concentrate, and adapted to the finishing diet by gradually increasing the concentrate ratio with feeding a series of transition diets 5 wk before the experiment started. Supplementation of THY or CIN did not affect DMI and ADG, and feed efficiency was similar between treatment groups. There were no effects of additives on ruminal pH and rumen concentrations of ammonia nitrogen and total VFA; whereas molar proportion of acetate and ratio of acetate to propionate decreased, and the molar proportion of propionate increased with THY and CIN supplementation. Rumen molar concentration of butyrate was significantly increased by adding CIN compared to control; but no change was observed with THY compared with control group. No effects of THY, or CIN were observed on valerate, isobutyrate or isovalerate proportions. Plasma concentrations of glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride, urea-N, ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyrate, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase were not changed by feeding THY or CIN. Results from this study suggest that supplementing a feedlot finishing diet with THY or CIN essential oil might be useful as ruminal fermentation modifiers in beef production systems, but has minor impacts on blood metabolites.