Only 7% of the variation in feed efficiency in veal calves can be predicted from variation in feeding motivation, digestion, metabolism, immunology, and behavioral traits in early life
| Autor: | Walter J. J. Gerrits, M.S. Gilbert, C.G. van Reenen, J.J.G.C. van den Borne |
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| Rok vydání: | 2017 |
| Předmět: |
Glycerol
Male 0301 basic medicine Animal Nutrition Growth performance Feed efficiency Lactose glycerol Growth Biology Feed conversion ratio Article Dierenwelzijn en gezondheid Immune System Phenomena 03 medical and health sciences chemistry.chemical_compound Veal calf feed efficiency Genetics Animals Animal Health & Welfare Feces growth performance Motivation Principal Component Analysis Behavior Animal 0402 animal and dairy science 04 agricultural and veterinary sciences Metabolism Carbohydrate Diervoeding Animal Feed 040201 dairy & animal science Early life Diet Milk 030104 developmental biology Intestinal Absorption chemistry Immunology WIAS Cattle Digestion Animal Science and Zoology Composition (visual arts) veal calf Food Science |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Dairy Science Journal of Dairy Science 100 (2017) 10 Journal of Dairy Science, 100(10), 8087-8101 |
| ISSN: | 0022-0302 |
| DOI: | 10.3168/jds.2016-12390 |
| Popis: | High interindividual variation in growth performance is commonly observed in veal calf production and appears to depend on milk replacer (MR) composition. Our first objective was to examine whether variation in growth performance in healthy veal calves can be predicted from early life characterization of these calves. Our second objective was to determine whether these predictions differ between calves that are fed a high- or low-lactose MR in later life. A total of 180 male Holstein-Friesian calves arrived at the facilities at 17 ± 3.4 d of age, and blood samples were collected before the first feeding. Subsequently, calves were characterized in the following 9 wk (period 1) using targeted challenges related to traits within each of 5 categories: feeding motivation, digestion, postabsorptive metabolism, behavior and stress, and immunology. In period 2 (wk 10-26), 130 calves were equally divided over 2 MR treatments: a control MR that contained lactose as the only carbohydrate source and a low-lactose MR in which 51% of the lactose was isocalorically replaced by glucose, fructose, and glycerol (2:1:2 ratio). Relations between early life characteristics and growth performance in later life were assessed in 117 clinically healthy calves. Average daily gain (ADG) in period 2 tended to be greater for control calves (1,292 ± 111 g/d) than for calves receiving the low-lactose MR (1,267 ± 103 g/d). Observations in period 1 were clustered per category using principal component analysis, and the resulting principal components were used to predict performance in period 2 using multiple regression procedures. Variation in observations in period 1 predicted 17% of variation in ADG in period 2. However, this was mainly related to variation in solid feed refusals. When ADG was adjusted to equal solid feed intake, only 7% of the variation in standardized ADG in period 2, in fact reflecting feed efficiency, could be explained by early life measurements. This indicates that >90% of the variation in feed efficiency in later life could not be explained by early life characterization of the calves. It is speculated that variation in health status explains a substantial portion of variation in feed efficiency in later life. Significant relations between fasting plasma glucose concentrations, fecal pH, drinking speed, and plasma natural antibodies in early life (i.e., not exposed to the lactose replacer) and feed efficiency in later life depended on MR composition. These measurements are therefore potential tools for screening calves in early life on their ability to cope with MR varying in lactose content. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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