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Mehdi Mirzaei

Mehdi Mirzaei

Academic rank: Assistant Professor
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1445-2986
Education: PhD.
ScopusId: 57004439300
HIndex:
Faculty: Agriculture and Environment
Address: Arak University
Phone:

Research

Title
Effects of preweaning total plane of milk intake and weaning age on intake,growth performance, and blood metabolites of dairy calves
Type
JournalPaper
Keywords
calf, plane of milk, weaning age, growth
Year
2018
Journal Journal of Dairy Science
DOI
Researchers Mehdi Mirzaei ، naser dadkhah ، babak baghban zadeh nobari ، ali agha tehrani ، majid eshraghi ، mahdi imani ، Roya Shiasi-Sardoabi ، Morteza Hosseini Ghaffari

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectsof preweaning total plane of milk intake and weaningage on intake, growth performance, and blood metabolitesof dairy calves. A total of 48 Holstein calves (40 ±1.6 kg of body weight) were used in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangementwith the factors of weaning age (d 60 vs. 75)and the total plane of milk intake (medium vs. high)during the preweaning period. Calves were assigned to1 of 4 treatments: (1) calves fed medium plane of milk(MPM) intake and weaned on d 60 of age (MPM-60d, 4L/d of milk from d 3 to 10, 6 L/d of milk from d 11 to55, and 3 L/d of milk from d 56 to 60 of age; total milkintake = 317 L), (2) calves fed MPM intake and weanedon d 75 of age (MPM-75d, 4 L/d of milk from d 3 to 10and 4.5 L/d of milk from d 11 to 70 of age followed byfeeding 2.25 L/d of milk from d 71 to 75 of age; totalmilk intake = 313 L), (3) calves fed high plane of milk(HPM) intake and weaned on d 60 of age (HPM-60d,4 L/d of milk from d 3 to 10, 6 L/d of milk from d 11to 20, and 8.5 L/d of milk from d 21 to 55 followed byfeeding 4.25 L/d of milk from d 56 to 60 of age; totalmilk intake = ~411 L); and (4) calves fed HPM intakeand weaned on d 75 (HPM-75d, 4 L/d of milk from d 3to 10, and 6 L/d of milk from d 11 to 70 of age followedby feeding 3 L/d of milk from d 71 to 75 of age; totalmilk intake = 407 L) with no milk refusals. All of thecalves were monitored up to d 90 of age. Regardlessof weaning age, starter feed intake and dry matter intake (% of body weight) were lower in calves fed HPMcompared with those receiving MPM. A tendency forthe plane of milk intake × weaning age interaction wasobserved for metabolizable energy intake with the highestvalue was recorded with the HPM-75d calves. Thelowest efficiency of metabolizable energy intake andaverage feed efficiency was observed in HPM-60d calvesthroughout the experimental period as compared withthe other groups. An interaction was found between thetotal plane of milk intake and weanin