Essential oil blend supplementation in the milk replacer of dairy calves: Performance and health.

Autor: Coelho MG; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., da Silva AP; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., de Toledo AF; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., Cezar AM; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., Tomaluski CR; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., Barboza RDF; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil., Júnior GFV; Minas Gerais Agricultural Research Agency, Experimental Field of Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Minas Gerais, Brazil., Manzano RP; Nutripec Consulting, São Paulo, Brazil., Bittar CMM; Department of Animal Science, Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2023 Oct 03; Vol. 18 (10), pp. e0291038. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Oct 03 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291038
Abstrakt: Supplementation of dairy calves with essential oils in the liquid diet can reduce the incidence and severity of infectious diseases and promote better performance. Our objective was to evaluate an essential oil blend containing peppermint, eucalyptus, and menthol crystals and its effect on performance and health during the pre and postweaning period of dairy calves. At birth, 40 dairy calves (34 males and 6 females) were blocked according to sex and birth weight, randomly assigned to one of two treatments-commercial milk replacer diluted at 14% (MR) and the same liquid diet plus essential oil blend (MREO) at a dose of 4 mL per calf per day, divided into two meals during the first 28 days of life. Calves were individually housed and fed 6 L/d of the liquid diet, divided into two meals, and received starter concentrate and water ad libitum. Weaning was gradually reduced by 1L per day at d 51 until complete weaning at 56 days. After weaning, calves were evaluated until 70 days of age, when the experimental period ended. Intake, fecal, and health scores were evaluated daily, weight and body measures were recorded weekly, and blood parameters were evaluated at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8. Calves fed MREO tended to have higher total dry matter intake during the preweaning period. Furthermore, MREO calves had lower health scores and fewer days with a health score ≥ 4 (suggestive of bronchopneumonia), tended to lower coughing days and fewer veterinary interventions preweaning, and tended to lower health scores postweaning. The supplementation with a blend of essential oils containing peppermint, eucalyptus, and menthol crystals can reduce respiratory problems. Further studies are needed to investigate the dose and the supplementation period.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2023 Coelho et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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