Dietary Protein Restriction on Growth and Immuno-biochemical Response of Crossbred Calves during Post-ruminant Phase of Life

Sahoo, A.,Mishra, S.C.,Pathak, N.N. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2002 Animal Bioscience Vol.15 No.8

Sixteen crossbred (Bos indicus${\times}$Bos taurus) calves were randomly distributed in two groups (NP and LP) of eight calves each to study the effect of restricted (75%) protein supply on growth and immuno-biochemical response as an indicator of production and health of under-nourished animals during 3 to 9 months of age. The normal requirement of protein was provided to group NP and a less of 25% to group LP through calculated amount of concentrate and roughage in their daily ration. Assessment was made for weekly change in live weight, periodic alteration in blood metabolites and immunological status at six months of age in calves. An initial (during 3 to 6 months of age) depression (p<0.05) in growth was seen in low protein fed group (LP) compared to NP, which became non-significant in the later period of life (6 to 9 months of age). There was no significant effect on haemoglobin, total protein, albumin and globulin concentration except that of urea, which was decreased significantly (p<0.05) in animals fed on low protein diet ($19.83{\pm}1.25$ vs $25.93{\pm}1.29mg/dl$). The treatment effect that was seen in different periods of life was not uniform for other parameters except for urea, which showed a regular depression in LP compared to NP. The assessment of immunological status by indirect haemagglutination (IHA) test against Pasteurella multocida (P52 strain) was considerably (p<0.05) reduced in animals on LP ration compared to those on NP. It is thus argued that with poor nutrition (low protein) and state of compromised immunological response the production and health of the animals will be adversely affected.

Effect of Glucosinolates of Taramira (Eruca Sativa) Oilcake on Nutrient Utilization and Growth of Crossbred Calves

Das, Srinibas,Tyagi, Amrish Kumar,Singhal, K.K. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2003 Animal Bioscience Vol.16 No.6

Taramira (Eruca sativa) cake, an unconventional oil cake, replaced 25 and 50 per cent crude protein of mustard cake in the ration of crossbred calves in an experiment of 90 days duration. Total glucosinolate content of the three concentrate mixture was almost similar (18.19, 17.95 and $17.95{\mu}mol/g$ dry matter), however, glucouracin was the major glucosinolate of experimental diets. Similar dry matter Intake, nutrient digestibility (except those of fibre fractions) and nitrogen balances as well as similar serum $T_3$ and $T_4$ levels and growth rate in all the groups indicated that taramira cake can replace 50 per cent crude protein of mustard cake in the diet of crossbred calves.

Effect of Dietary Vitamin E Supplementation on Serum α-Tocopherol and Immune Status of Crossbred Calves

Samanta, A.K.,Dass, R.S.,Rawat, Mayank,Mishra, S.C.,Mehra, U.R. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2006 Animal Bioscience Vol.19 No.4

An experiment was conducted with twenty crossbred male calves (7-15 days old) divided into 4 different experimental groups on the basis of body weights to study the effect of vitamin E supplementation on the serum ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentration and immune response of the calves. All the calves were fed on milk and calf starter up to 13 weeks and afterwards, they were fed on concentrate mixture and oat hay up to 32 weeks of age. In addition, the calves in groups I, II, III and IV were supplemented with 0, 125, 250 and 500 IU feed grade DL-${\alpha}$-tocopheryl acetate, respectively. Blood samples were collected at 0 day and subsequently at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 months of age to monitor the serum ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentration in crossbred calves. After 24 weeks of experimental feeding, 4 animals from each group were intramuscularly inoculated with single dose (3 ml) of Haemorrhagic septiceaemia (Pasteurella multocida P52 strain) oil adjuvant vaccine. The cumulative group mean serum ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentration (${\mu}g/100ml$) was 88.12, 210.11, 235.21 and 294.02 in-groups I, II, III and IV, respectively and differed significantly (p<0.001) among the four groups. Lymphocyte stimulation indices (LSI) did not differ among the groups significantly. The pooled mean ELISA antibody titer against Pasteurella multocida (P52 strain) was 788.02, 926.85, 1,214.00 and 1,109.51 for group I, II, III and IV, respectively, which indicated higher antibody titer in groups supplemented with vitamin E as compared to the control group. It may be concluded that vitamin E supplementation increased the ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentration in serum and dietary supplementation of vitamin E at higher level has a humoral immune enhancing effect against killed bacterial antigen.

Nutrient Utilization and Compensatory Growth in Crossbred (Bos indicus×Bos taurus) Calves

Santra, A.,Pathak, N.N. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 1999 Animal Bioscience Vol.12 No.8

A feeding trial was carried out over 238 days to determine the effect of compensatory growth in crossbred calves having 166 kg body weight. Fifteen crossbred calves were divided into two groups of five calves (G1 group) and ten calves (G2 group) as per randomized block design. Growth study was conducted on the feeding of wheat straw based diet containing 60 and 30 percent concentrate supplying equal amount of protein in group G1 and G2 respectively for 119 days (phase - I). At the end of phase-I, calves of G2 group were subdivided in to two groups (G3 and G4). One sub group (G4) received 60% concentrate in their diet (during 120 to 238 days of experiment) while other subgroup G3 received 30% concentrate in their diet (phase-II). The calves of G1 group continued to receive the same diet as during phase-I experiment. Mean DM intake was significantly higher in calves fed high level of concentrate (in G1 and G4 groups), which resulted in significantly higher digestibility of all nutrients except NDF. Nitrogen balance was positive in all the groups and showed significant differences in phase-II (higher nitrogen retention in G4 group than G1 group). ME intake was significantly affected by the level of dietary concentrate, being higher in high concentrate fed group (G1 and G4 than G2 and G3 group). Higher daily body weight gain in the calves of G4 group during phase-II than in G1 and G3 groups was due to compensatory growth on shifting animals from low concentrate to high concentrate based ration. Average daily body weight gain was higher in phase-I than in the phase-II. Protein and energy intake per unit body weight gain were significantly lower in calves fed high concentrate diet.

Estimation of Rumen Microbial Protein Supply Using Urinary Purine Derivatives Excretion in Crossbred Calves Fed at Different Levels of Feed Intake

Singh, M.,Sharma, K.,Dutta, N.,Singh, P.,Verma, A.K.,Mehra, U.R. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2007 Animal Bioscience Vol.20 No.10

A study was carried out to study the response of total purine derivatives (PD) excretion in urine to determine microbial N (MN) supply at four fixed levels of feed intake (namely 95, 80, 60 and 40% of voluntary intake). The crossbred (CB) calves were allocated according to a $4{\times}4$ Latin Square Design and fed wheat straw and concentrate (1:1). The rate of PD excretion (mmol/d) as a linear function of feed intake was 15.85/kg DMI and 20.12/kg DOMI. Based on the endogenous and PD excretion rates obtained in this study, a relationship between daily urinary PD excretion (Y, mmol) and daily microbial protein supply (X, mmol) was developed for crossbred calves as Y = 0.83X+0.296 kg $W^{0.75}$. The derived microbial N values using this equation differed (p<0.001) among the 4 groups and was the highest in L-95 followed by L-80, L-60 and L-40. The relationship between urinary nitrogen loss (Y, g/d) and DOMI (X, kg/d) was established as: Y = 6.038X+21.753 ($r^2$ = 0.663, p<0.01). When urinary excretion of PD (Y, mmol/d) was plotted against intake of DM and DOM (X, kg/d), the equations obtained were: Y = 7.1711X+8.674 ($r^2$ = 0.889, p<0.01) and Y = 12.434X+7.683 ($r^2$ = 0.896, p<0.01), respectively. The proportional contribution of allantoin and uric acid to total PD remained stable irrespective of level of feed intake. Similarly, urinary excretion of creatinine did not differ (p>0.05) between animals fed at different levels. The MN supply was the highest to animals at intake levels L-95, and decreased linearly with corresponding decrease in feed intake. However, the MN supply when expressed per kg DOMI remained statistically (p>0.05) similar irrespective of level of intake. The results revealed that the excretion of urinary purine derivatives were positively correlated with the level of feed intake as well as rumen microbial supply and thus it could be a good indicator for measuring the microbial protein supply and nutritional status of animals.

Effect of Lactic Acid Producing Bacteria on the Performance of Male Crossbred Calves Fed Roughage Based Diet

Ramaswami, N.,Chaudhary, L.C.,Agarwal, N.,Kamra, D.N. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2005 Animal Bioscience Vol.18 No.8

To study the effect of feeding lactic acid producing bacteria on the performance of cattle calves, twenty four, day old male crossbred cattle calves (Bos indicus${\times}$Bos taurus), were distributed into two groups of 12 animals each. The animals were fed on calf starter containing wheat bran and green berseem ad libitum and milk as per requirement upto 8 weeks of age. The diet of calves of Group 2 was supplemented with 500 ml culture of Lactobacillus acidophilus-15. Total duration of the experiment was 31 weeks. There was no significant difference in intake and digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), acid detergent fibre (ADF) and crude protein (CP) between the groups. The rumen pH, protozoa numbers, concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFA), ammonia nitrogen ($NH_3-N$), trichloroacetic acid precipitable nitrogen (TCA-ppt N) and activity of microbial enzymes (carboxymethylcellulase, xylanase, amylase and protease) were not affected due to probiotic supplementation. Average live weight gain of the calves was improved (about 10%) and feed:gain ratio was reduced (about 5%) in the animals given Lactobacillus culture. The data indicated that crossbred calves could be reared on a diet devoid of cereal grain and addition of Lactobacillus culture in the diet resulted in an added advantage in growth performance of the animals.

Effect of Dietary Supplementation with Yeast Cell Suspension (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) on Nutrient Utilisation and Growth Response in Crossbred Calves

Singh, Rameshwar,Chaudhary, L.C.,Kamra, D.N.,Pathak, N.N. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 1998 Animal Bioscience Vol.11 No.3

Twenty crossbred calves of $88{\pm}5.5kg$ initial live weight and 3-4 month of age were divided into two groups and fed wheat straw and concentrate to support a 500 g daily gain in body weight. Calves in the experimental group (YC) were given a daily dose of 10 ml yeast cell suspension (YC) containing live cells $(5{\times}10^9 cells/ml)$ of Saccharomyces cerevisiae ITCCF 2094. After a growth study of 122 days metabolism trials were conducted. The calves in the YC group recorded a daily weigt gain of $492{\pm}27.8g$ as compared to $476{\pm}20.1g$ in control group. There were no significant differences in feed intake, nutrient digestibility, feed/gain ratio and nitrogen retention between the YC supplemented and control groups.

Effect of Pre-partum Feeding of Crossbred Cows on Growth Performance, Metabolic Profile and Immune Status of Calves

Panigrahi, B.,Pandey, H.N.,Pattanaik, A.K. Asian Australasian Association of Animal Productio 2005 Animal Bioscience Vol.18 No.5

The effects of pre-partum feeding management in terms of birth weight, growth, metabolic profile and immunity of calves were studied using 24 crossbred (Bos taurus${\times}$Bos indicus) cows, divided into three equal groups. The dietary treatments included feeding of either 3.0 kg concentrate/head/d throughout the 60 d pre-partum (T$_1$), or 3.0 kg concentrate during 60-22 d pre-partum and thereafter at an increased allowance at 0.25 kg/d during the next 21 d till it reached 1% of live weight (T$_2$). The third group of cows was fed similar to T$_2$, except that the concentrate feeding during 60-22 d pre-partum was reduced to 2.0 kg (T$_3$). All the groups had access to ad libitum green fodder throughout. The results revealed that the mean daily dry matter (DM) intake by the cows was similar (p>0.05) among the three groups during the 60 days of the pre-partum but T2 animals tended to gain more live weight (41.25 kg) than T$_1$ (38.12 kg) and T$_3$ (36.25 kg). The body condition score of the cows did not change appreciably over the experimental period. The mean birth weight of the calves was 24.00${\pm}$1.10, 24.63${\pm}$1.17 and 23.25${\pm}$1.19 kg for the three groups, respectively, with the corresponding average daily gain of 154.2, 155.0 and 169.7 g during the subsequent 60 days; both these parameters did not vary significantly ascribable to prepartum feeding regimens of their dams. The total immunoglobulin (Ig) concentration in the colostrum was 6.31${\pm}$0.34, 5.80${\pm}$0.21 and 6.13${\pm}$0.30 g/dl for the three groups, respectively, showing no influence of dietary treatments. The mean serum Ig levels (T$_1$ 2.10${\pm}$0.09, T$_2$ 2.05${\pm}$0.09 and T$_3$ 2.10${\pm}$0.12 g/dl) of calves at 5 d of age were similar among the dietary groups as was the case with various serum biochemical constituents. It is concluded that the variations in pre-partum dietary management elicited no significant influence on the calf performance including the immune status.