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Mehdi Kazemi bonchenari

Mehdi Kazemi bonchenari

Academic rank: Professor
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4051-1097
Education: PhD.
ScopusId: 36935904700
HIndex:
Faculty: Agriculture and Environment
Address: Arak University
Phone:

Research

Title
Does the time of microencapsulated sodium butyrate supplementation have any effect on the growth performance and health of Holstein dairy calves?
Type
JournalPaper
Keywords
Calf diarrhoea, faecal score sodium butyrate
Year
2023
Journal The journal of Agricultural Science
DOI
Researchers Mohammadmahdi Eskandary ، Mehdi Hossein Yazdi ، Ehsan Mahjoubi ، Mehdi Kazemi bonchenari

Abstract

The optimal feeding time of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (SB) in whole milk (WM) and starter feed on growth performance and health in dairy calves was evaluated. Forty-eight newborn Holstein calves (body weight (BW) = 39.45 ± 2.48 kg) were randomly assigned to one of the four treatment groups (12 calves per treatment; seven females and five males) in a complete randomized block design and fed (1) WM without microencapsulated SB (CON) supplementation; (2) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 4–32 (SB-4-32); (3) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 61–74 and an equal amount was added to starter since days 75–88 (SB-61-88) and (4) 4 g/day SB added to WM since days 4–74 and an equal amount was added to starter since days 75–88 (SB-4-88). Total dry matter intake, starter intake, BW, average daily gain and gain-to-feed were similar between treatments. Calves fed SB-4-32, and SB-4-88 had lower faecal score during pre-weaning, and overall. In addition, calves in SB-4-32 and SB-4-88 groups had fewer numbers of days with scours during the pre-weaning period, and throughout the study. Calves fed SB-61-88 had greater serum total protein during post-weaning. Post-weaning and overall albumin concentrations were greater in SB-4-32 and SB-4-88 calves and tended to be greater in the pre-weaning period compared to control calves. In general, the time of SB addition had no remarkable effect on performance but better faecal score within the pre- and post-weaning periods.