scholarly journals Effects of a blend of essential oils in milk replacer on performance, rumen fermentation, blood parameters and health scores of dairy heifers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joana P. Campolina ◽  
Sandra G. Coelho ◽  
Anna Luiza Belli ◽  
Fernanda S. Machado ◽  
Luiz G. R. Pereira ◽  
...  

AbstractThe objective of this study was to evaluate how the inclusion of a blend of essential oils in milk replacer (MR) affects different outcomes of dairy heifers. The outcomes evaluated: feed intake, performance, body development, blood cells and metabolites, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), rumen fermentation, fecal scores and respiratory scores. All outcomes were evaluated during pre-weaning (4 – 60 d of age), and carryover effects on post-weaning (61 – 90 d of age) periods. The experimental units utilized were 29 newborn Holstein × Gyr crossbred dairy heifers, with genetic composition of 5/8 or more Holstein and 3/8 or less Gyr and body weight (BW) at birth of 32.2 ± 5.2 kg. Experimental units were randomly assigned to either a control group (CON, n = 15) or a treatment group, consisting of supplementation of a blend of essential oils (BEO, n = 14) with1 g/d/calf (Apex Calf, Adisseo, China). During the pre-weaning phase, all heifers were fed 5 L of MR/d reconstituted at 15% (dry matter basis), divided into two equal meals. Water and starter were provided ad libitum. During the post-weaning, animals received a maximum 3 kg of starter/d, and ad libitum corn silage, divided into two meals. The outcomes feed intake, fecal and respiratory scores were evaluated daily. BW was measured every three days, while body development was recorded weekly. Blood samples were collected on 0, 30 and 60 d of age for total blood cell count, weekly to determinate ß-hydroxybutyrate, urea and glucose, and biweekly for IGF-1. Ruminal parameters (pH, volatile fatty acids, ammonia-N and acetate:proprionate proportion - C2:C3) were measured each 14 days. A randomized complete block design with an interaction between treatment and week was the experimental method of choice to test the hypothesis of effect of BEO on all outcomes. An ANOVA procedure was used for continuous outcomes and a non-parametric test was used for the ordered categorical outcomes both adopting a C.I. = 95%. Results indicated that there was not enough evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis of effect of BEO in MR on: feed intake, performance, body development and blood metabolites during both pre-weaning and post-weaning periods. However, results indicated that the inclusion of BEO in MR significantly affects the proportion of C2:C3 during pre and post-weaning (P ≤ 0.05). Similarly, the effect is significant for basophil (P ≤ 0.001) and platelet (P ≤ 0.05) counts in pre-weaning. The interaction between week and treatment was also significant for lymphocytes (P ≤ 0.001), revealing a long-term treatment immunological effect. Lastly, the effect on fecal scores was also significant (P ≤ 0.05) during pre-weaning, with lower values for BEO. BEO contributed for ruminal manipulation on pre-weaning and carry over effect on post-weaning; immunity improvement and a decrease morbidity of neonatal diarrhea in pre-weaning phase.

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0231068
Author(s):  
Joana Palhares Campolina ◽  
Sandra Gesteira Coelho ◽  
Anna Luiza Belli ◽  
Fernanda Samarini Machado ◽  
Luiz Gustavo R. Pereira ◽  
...  

The aim of this study was to evaluate how the inclusion of a blend of essential oils in milk replacer (MR) affects different outcomes of dairy heifers. The outcomes evaluated: feed intake, performance, body development, blood cells and metabolites, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), rumen fermentation, fecal scores, and respiratory scores. All outcomes were evaluated during pre-weaning (4–60 d of age), and carry-over effects during post-weaning (61–90 d of age) periods. The experimental units utilized were 29 newborn Holstein × Gyr crossbred dairy heifers, with genetic composition of 5/8 or more Holstein and 3/8 or less Gyr and body weight (BW) at birth of 32.2 ± 5.2 kg. Experimental units were assigned to either a control (CON, n = 15) or a blend of essential oil supplementation (BEO, n = 14) treatment, maintaining a balance of genetic composition. The BEO was supplemented in the MR with 1 g/d/calf of a blend of essential oils (Apex Calf, Adisseo, China) composed by plant extracts derived from anise, cinnamon, garlic, rosemary, and thyme. During the pre-weaning phase, all heifers were fed 5 L of MR/d reconstituted to 15% (dry matter basis), divided into two equal meals. Water and starter were provided ad libitum. During the post-weaning, animals received a maximum of 3 kg of starter/d, and ad libitum corn silage, divided into two meals. Feed intake, fecal and respiratory scores were evaluated daily. The BW was measured every three days, while body development was recorded weekly. Blood samples were collected on 0, 30, and 60 d of age for total blood cell count, weekly and on the weaning day to determinate ß-hydroxybutyrate, urea and glucose, and biweekly for IGF-1. Ruminal parameters (pH, volatile fatty acids, ammonia-N, and acetate:propionate proportion—C2:C3) were measured on days 14, 28, 42, 60, 74 and 90. A randomized complete block design with an interaction between treatment and week was the experimental method of choice to test the hypothesis of the BEO’s effect on all outcomes. An ANOVA procedure was used for continuous outcomes, and a non-parametric test was used for the ordered categorical outcomes, both adopting a CI = 95%. Results indicated that there was not enough evidence to accept the alternative hypothesis of the effect of BEO in MR on feed intake, performance, body development, and blood metabolites during both pre-weaning and post-weaning periods. However, results indicated that the inclusion of BEO in MR significantly affects the proportion of C2:C3 during pre- and post-weaning (P = 0.05). Similarly, the effect was significant for basophil (P ≤ 0.001), and platelet (P = 0.04) counts pre-weaning. The interaction between week and treatment was also significant for lymphocytes (P ≤ 0.001), revealing a cumulative effect. Lastly, fecal scores were also significant (P = 0.04) during pre-weaning, with lower values for BEO. The BEO contributed to ruminal manipulation in pre-weaning and carry-over effects in post-weaning, immunity improvement, and decreased morbidity of neonatal diarrhea in the pre-weaning phase.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-84
Author(s):  
Szandra Tóth

The objective of the current study was to examine the effects of mannan-oligosaccharides or inulin on HF dairy heifers’ starter feed intake and daily weight gain in farm situations. We measured these parameters across two experiments. In Trial 1 (T1), next to the control group, 15-15 HF heifers received MOS or inulin supplementation from 1st day of age to weaning. The amount of the supplementations changed according the calves’ age and the amount of milk replacer from 12 g to 24 g/calf/day. We measured the individual feed intake daily, the live weight at 0, 14, 21 and 60 days. In the second experiment (T2) we used 30 HF heifers also in three group (Control, MOS, Inulin) but we gave more from the experiment materials (28 g/calf/day MOS or Inulin). We started dosing the supplements with the colostrums feeding, and gave up on 14th day of age. We also measured the individual feed intake daily and the live body weight (BW) at 0, 14, 28, 42 and 56 days. The treatments in T1 did not cause significant differences in average feed intake, body weight and average daily weight gain. When the calves got the supplementation with colostrum too, the ADWG was significant lower in the group fed inulin than control and group fed MOS (P<0.05). We calculate the ADWG all of the experimental periods. From 0 to 14 day, and from 0 to 56 day the ADWG in inulin group was lower than control group, but the datas of group MOS did not differ from the others. Due to the distribution of the birth weights, the lower ADWG did not manifest in differences in body weight in other points of the experiments. We did not find an interaction between the treatments and the daily feed intake of calves. According with our measurements,


2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (7) ◽  
pp. 641 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. M. Syahniar ◽  
R. Antari ◽  
D. Pamungkas ◽  
Marsetyo ◽  
D. E. Mayberry ◽  
...  

Improving the productivity and profitability of smallholder cattle enterprises in Indonesia requires greater and more efficient utilisation of underutilised feed resources such as rice straw. The experiment tested the hypothesis that an Ongole cow with low energy requirements can maintain weight (W) on a rice straw-based diet with the addition of a small amount of tree legumes. Thirty-two Ongole cross (Bos indicus) cows were allocated to one of four treatments in a randomised block design with eight cows per treatment. Cows were offered untreated rice straw ad libitum with four levels of tree legumes (0, 11, 21, and 42 g DM/kg W0.75.day) for 20 weeks. Feed intake was determined daily and liveweight was measured every second week. There was no difference in total feed intake between the treatment groups (P > 0.05). Intake of tree legumes was higher when more was offered (P < 0.05), but cows did not consume all of the legumes offered to them. The inclusion of tree legumes in the diet had no effect on organic matter digestibility, ME content of the diet, liveweight gain or estimated energy balance of the cows (P > 0.05). Rice straw alone contained insufficient ME and rumen-degradable N to meet the maintenance requirements of the cows. From the regression relating liveweight change and ME intake for all cows across all diets, the inclusion of tree legumes in the diet at ~12 g DM/kg W0.75.day or 2.8 g DM/kg W.day was enough to meet the energy requirements for maintenance of Ongole cows fed rice straw ad libitum.


1994 ◽  
Vol 122 (3) ◽  
pp. 465-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. T. S. Morrow ◽  
N. Walker

SUMMARYTwo experiments of randomized block design were carried out at the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland in 1991/92 involving groups of 20 pigs fed ad libitum from single-space feeders with built-in water supply from 37 kg to slaughter at 91 kg liveweight.Treatments were replicated 16 and 6 times respectively in Experiments 1 and 2. In the first experiment, one feeder perpen was compared with two feeders per pen positioned side by side. Two feeders increased feed intake (P < 0·05) but had no significant effects on growth rate or feed conversion. With two feeders, the total time that feeders were occupied and the number of visits to feeders were both increased, while the number of enforced withdrawals from feeders and the amount of queuing were both decreased compared with the single feeder. In the second experiment, placing two feeders 2 m or more apart instead of side by side had no significant effects on feed intake or growth rate but improved feed conversion efficiency by 4%. This improvement was associated with fewer and longer visits to feeders but no difference in enforced withdrawals or queuing. In both experiments all treatments showed broadly similar patterns of diurnal feeding behaviour with two peaks of activity daily, a smaller peak pre-midday and a larger one in the afternoon. This pattern was influenced more by number of visits to feeders than by the mean duration of each visit. It is recommended that two single-space feeders are used in pens of 20 finishing pigs when non-pelleted diets are offered ad libitum and that feeders are sited some distance apart, not side by side.


2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-76
Author(s):  
M Tion ◽  
M. T. Orga ◽  
I. A. Adeka

Two hundred and twenty five day old straight run broiler chicks were utilized in completely randomized design to test the effect of restricting feed intake of four groups of chicks to 92.5% 85.0%, 77.5% and 70.0% of the unrestricted (control) group in the starter phase and following adlibitum feeding for all groups in the finisher phase. The treatments were simply designated as A, B, C, D and E. The starter phase in which the restriction was carried out lasted 28 days and the finisher phase 42 days. Parameters evaluated during the starter and finisher phases included; growth rate, feed conversion ration and mortality rate. Results show gain in weight among all groups while the group fed diet B and the control had comparable weight gain at the starter phase. The percentage weight difference between the control and each of the other dietary groups was: 4.4%, 8.4%, 8.6% and 10.4% for the treatments B, C, D and E respectively. Feed gain ration improved as the level of restriction became stricter. Following ad-libitum feeding of all grops at the finisher phase, the feed restricted groups at the starter phase voraciously increased their feed intake, thus, producing comparable performance values with the unrestricted (control) group in weight gain in the 8th week of the study. Although birds in all groups averaged more than 2000g final live weight in 10weeks, significant differences exist between groups that were fed diets C, D, and E that were restricted at the starter phase, an indication that complete compensatory growth was not obtainable. Feed gain ration improved for restricted groups. Mortality rate did not show any trend attributable to levels of feed restriction. This study shows that broiler chicks fed restricted levels of balanced diet at the starter phase but later fed ad-libitum at the finisher phase could attain a finished weight of about 2000g or more at a market age of 10 weeks (70 days) with an improvement in feed gain ration.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganesan Saibaba ◽  
Mark Ruzal ◽  
Dima Shinder ◽  
Sara Yosefi ◽  
Shelly Druyan ◽  
...  

In mammals, time-restricted feeding (TRF) with no caloric restriction provides health benefits and extends longevity, usually with a minor (∼3%) or no reduction in total food consumption. In the current study, a TRF regimen of 6 h free access to food (08:00–14:00 h) was applied to Leghorn chickens from 25 to 86 weeks of age; control birds ate freely during the light hours (06:00–20:00 h). Unexpectedly, the TRF-treated birds consumed, on average, 11.7% less food than the controls. This was manifested by an average reduction of 9.6% in body weight, 2.6-fold in visceral fat accumulation, and 6.5% in egg weight. Hen-housed egg production was reduced by 3.6% in the TRF group compared with the control, along the first 40 weeks of the follow-up (P &lt; 0.05), and changed into a tendency of 0.7% higher egg production thereafter. Several parameters of egg quality showed significant improvement (P &lt; 0.05) in the TRF group compared with the controls. A comparison of diurnal patterns of feed consumption revealed a higher rate of hourly consumption in the TRF group and increased consumption before dark in the control group. In conclusion, the reduced feed intake in response to the TRF treatment and loss in visceral fat accumulation supports the lack of a strong adipostat activity in chickens and different appetite regulation mechanisms compared with mammals. Therefore, future TRF studies in chickens should be adjusted by extending the ad libitum time window. The lower feed intake by the TRF-treated chickens compared with the ad libitum-fed controls seems to reduce the efficiency of egg production. Nevertheless, the improved egg quality and persistence of egg lay at the older age suggest that similarly to mammals, the TRF treatment delayed at least some of the negative impacts associated with advanced age.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Youssef A Attia ◽  
Abd-Elhamid E Abd-Elhamid ◽  
Manal Mustafa ◽  
Mohammed A Al-Harthi ◽  
Mai Muhammad

An experiment was conducted to study the response of a slow growing chickens breed “Sinai” to feed restriction (FR) and the effects on growth performance, blood constituents and immune markers using a total number of 60 unsexed 7-d-old chicks. Chickens were housed in battery brooders during d 1 to 35 of age and randomly distributed keeping similar initial body weight, in two FR treatment groups. During 0-6 d of age, chickens were fed ad libitum, a mash commercial diet. During d 7-14 of age, chickens were fed either 100 or 80 % of the daily amount of feed consumed by the control group during the previous day. From d 15 to d 35, chickens were fed ad libitum diets a mash commercial diet. At the end of the experiment, body weight gain on the FR regimen was significantly lower than that of the control group, but feed intake and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were not affected. In addition, red blood cells parameters and white blood cells traits were not negatively affected. However, hemagglutination inhibition titter for New castle disease virus, monocyte and total cholesterol were significantly decreased by FR regimen, but blood plasma albumin and immunoglobulin A significantly increased. In conclusion, slow growing chickens could tolerate 27.2 % FR during the 2nd week of age without significant differences in feed intake and FCR for the whole period, and general health status and metabolic profiles indicating a compensatory growth during 15-35 d of age although growth was in favour to the unrestricted group. 


2020 ◽  
Vol 103 (5) ◽  
pp. 4275-4287 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Berends ◽  
H. van Laar ◽  
L.N. Leal ◽  
W.J.J. Gerrits ◽  
J. Martín-Tereso

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 38-39
Author(s):  
Joyce Barcellos ◽  
Warley J Alves ◽  
Pedro R Arnaut ◽  
Lucimauro Fonseca ◽  
Paulo H Reis Furtado Campos ◽  
...  

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the effect of immune challenge (IC) on digestible lysine (Lys) requirement of growing pigs using the Goettingen approach. Twenty-four 19kg-pigs were used in three nitrogen balance (NB) trials. The trials were performed in a complete randomized block design, with six nitrogen levels (NL), two sanitary status (control and IC) and two individual replicates per treatment (6 x 2 x 6). Dietary NL concentration ranged from 1.06 to 4.48 % in DM, being Lys limiting in all the levels assessed. For two consecutive days, Escherichia coli lipopolyssacharide (LPS) was intramuscular injected in challenged pigs at 30 and 34μg/kg. Data were fitted to nonlinear models to estimate nitrogen requirement for maintenance (NMR) and the maximum nitrogen deposition (NDmaxT). Both information were associated with the maximum nitrogen retention (NRmaxT), Lys efficiency (bc-1) and nitrogen retention (NR) to determine Lys requirements as follows: Lys = (lnNRmaxT-ln(NRmaxT-NR))/(16×bc−1). The NRM of pigs from control group was estimated in 152mg of N/kg of BW0,75/day, whereas LPS-challenged pigs had such requirements estimated in 197 N/kg of BW0,75/day. NDmaxT was estimated in 3525 and 2078mg of N/kg BW0,75/day in for pigs form control and LPS-challenged group, respectively. Requirements for Lys were estimated based on 68% and 54% of NDmaxT, being such percentage based on the mean value of ND for each group. Pigs from control group had the requirements for Lys estimated in 1.42 and 1.58%, based on a feed intake of 1000 and 900g/day, respectively, whereas Lys requirements of LPS-challenged pigs were estimated in 0.76 and 0.84%, based 893 and 803g/day of feed intake, respectively. Compared with control, LPS group exhibited a reduction of approximately 11% in feed intake. The model enables to estimate Lys requirement, taking into account protein deposition potential, feed intake, and immune challenge.


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