No abstract

Twenty Holstein calves were used to investigate the effects of mannanoligosaccharides (MOS) supplementation in the whole milk on growth performance, faecal score, faecal pH, selected faecal bacterial populations and health during the preweaning period. Healthy calves selected by clinical examination were allocated to one of the two groups (control [CG] and experimental [EG]) at 5 days old. Each group consisted of 5 male and 5 female calves. Each calf in EG was supplemented with 7 g/d of a MOS product (Celmanax) from 5 days to 56 days of age. MOS supplement was mixed with the whole milk once in the morning and administered to the calves in EG via nipple bottle, whereas the calves in CG were fed the whole milk without MOS. Calves were weaned at 56 days of age. The final body weight, average daily weight gain (ADG) and average daily feed intake (ADFI) were statistically similar (p>0.05) but were higher by 3.70%, 6.66%, and 10.97%, respectively, in MOS than in control calves. Feed efficiency (ADG/ADFI) was also similar in two calves group. While faecal scores did not differ on day 5, 7, 14, 21, 28, 42, 49, and 56 between groups, EG had a higher faecal score (p = 0.05) than CG on day 35. Faecal concentration of Lactobacillus was lower (p<0.05) in EG compared with CG. No differences (p>0.05) in faecal concentrations of Bifidobacterium, Clostridium perfringens, and Escherichia coli were found between groups. Although there were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the incidence of diarrhoea, treatment days for diarrhoea and the costs associated with diarrhoea treatments between groups, collectively, the observed reductions in treatment days and the cost of diarrhoea treatments accompanying increases in final body weight, ADG and ADFI for EG may indicate potential benefit of MOS in treatment of diarrhoea.

Fifty newborn Saanen kids were used to study the effects of inulin supplementation on faecal score, faecal pH, selected faecal bacterial population, BW, body temperature, haematological traits, selected health parameters and the incidence of diarrhoea. Kids were sorted by parity of their dams and multiple birth (twin or triplet) and assigned to one of the two groups (control: CG, and experimental: EG) at birth. Each group consisted of 25 kids. The groups were similar with regard to sex and birth weight. All kids were fed colostrum for the first 3 days after birth, and then the kids in EG were adapted to inulin supplementation by an increased dosage from day 4 to 7. Each kid in EG was supplemented with 0.2 g, 0.3 g, 0.4 g, 0.5 g and 0.6 g inulin on day 4, 5, 6, 7 and from day 8 to 28, respectively, whereas the kids in CG did not receive inulin. Faecal score and faecal bacterial population were not affected by inulin supplementation (P . 0.05). There were differences in faecal pH on day 14 (P 5 0.01) and 28 (P,0.05), whereas no difference in faecal pH on day 21 (P . 0.05) was detected between groups. No differences (P . 0.05) in BW and haematological traits were found between groups. Body temperature did not differ on day 14 and 21 (P . 0.05), whereas there was a difference in body temperature on day 28 (P 5 0.01) between groups. The numbers of kids with pneumonia and kids treated for pneumonia and diarrhoea were similar for CG and EG. Kid losses during the study were the same for CG and EG. The incidence of diarrhoea was not affected by inulin supplementation (P . 0.05). Inulin supplemented to kids did not adversely affect faecal score. The effect of inulin on faecal pH was not consistent. The results of our study suggested that daily dose (0.6 g) of inulin might not be enough to observe effects of it. Our data will be useful to determine the dose and timing of inulin supplementation in future studies investigating the effects of inulin on the parameters associated with performance and health status in kids and other young ruminants.

No abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of juniper essential oil on the growth performance, rumen fermentation parameters, rumen protozoa population, blood antioxidant enzyme parameters and faecal content in growing Saanen kids. Thirty-six male Saanen kids (36 ± 14 days of age) were used in the study. Each group consisted of 9 kids. The control group (G1) was fed with a diet that consisted of the above concentrated feed and oat hay, whereas the experimental groups consumed the same diet but with the concentrated feed uniformly sprayed with juniper essential oil 0.4 ml/kg (G2), 0.8 ml/kg (G3) or 2 ml/kg (G4). There were no differences (p > 0.05) in live weight, live weight gain or feed consumption between the control and experimental groups. There was a significant improvement (p < 0.05) in feed efficiency in the G3 group. There were no differences in the rumen pH, rumen volatile fatty acid (VFA) profile or faecal pH of the control and experimental groups. The rumen NH N values were similar at the middle and end of the experiment, but at the start of the experiment, the rumen NH N values differed between the control and experimental groups (p < 0.05). The faecal score value was significantly (p < 0.05) decreased in the experimental groups. The addition of juniper essential oil supplementation to the rations caused significant effects on the kids' antioxidant blood parameters. Although the superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and catalase values were significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the experimental groups (G2, G3 and G4), especially group G4, the blood glutathione peroxidase (GPX) value significantly decreased in the experimental groups. The results of this study suggest that supplementation of juniper oil is more effective on antioxidant parameters than on performance parameters and may be used as a natural antioxidant product.

This study was conducted to evaluate effects of calcium propionate on hypocalcemia, dry matter intake, body condition score, milk production and reproductive disorders in dairy cows. Twenty four multiparous Holstein cows were sorted by parity, body condition score (BCS) in close-up period and season of calving and assigned to one of the three treatments. The cows in treatment 1 (T1) received two drenches at calving and 24h after calving. The cows in treatment 2 (T2) received three drenches at calving, 24h after calving and 7 days after calving. The cows in treatment 3 (T3) were the control. Each drench contained 143g of calcium as calcium propionate (0.68kg). Parameters studied were serum calcium, glucose and nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) concentrations, dry matter intake (DMI), BCS, milk production (MP), incidence of retained placenta (RP) and metritis. Milk fever developed in 5 of 8 cows, in 3 of 8 cows and in 3 of 8 cows in T1, T2 and T3, respectively, at calving. There was no cow with milk fever in T1 and T2 at 4h after second drench (about 28h after calving) but 3 of 8 cows in T3 had still milk fever at this time. The cows receiving two drenches recovered from milk fever in a shorter term as compared to the cows in T3. There were no differences among treatments for DMI, BCS, MP, RP, serum glucose and NEFA concentrations during the experimental period. There was no difference for metritis between T1 and T3 but incidence of metritis in T2 was significantly lower as compared to T3 (P<0.05). Two drenches of calcium propionate were beneficial in treating milk fever and three drenches of calcium propionate were considered to have had a preventive effect for metritis

1. An experiment was conducted with 360 Lohmann LSL-Classic White Leghorn layers (64 weeks old) to evaluate the effects of supplementation of microbial phytase on production, egg quality, bone, selected manure parameters and feed costs. 2. Experimental diets were formulated as follows: (1) maize-soybean (CS), (2) CS+300 units of phytase (FTU)/kg diet which was formulated to recoup only calcium and available phosphorus equivalency for phytase (CS+PHYCa+P), (3) CS+300 FTU/kg diet which was formulated to recoup total nutrient equivalency for phytase (CS+PHYtotal), (4) CS+100 g/kg distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS), (5) DDGS+300 FTU/kg diet which was formulated to recoup only calcium and available phosphorus equivalency for phytase (DDGS+PHYCa+P), or (6) DDGS+300 FTU/kg diet which was formulated to recoup total nutrient equivalency for phytase (DDGS+PHYtotal). 3. Each dietary treatment was assigned to 4 replicate groups with 3 cages and 5 hens per cage. The hens were provided with feed and water ad libitum. The experiment lasted for 8 weeks. 4. CS+PHYCa+P, CS+PHYtotal, DDGS+PHYCa+P and DDGS+PHYtotal diets supplemented with phytase provided similar percentage egg production, egg weight, egg mass, exterior egg quality, initial and final body weight compared with phytase-free diets. 5. However, supplementation of phytase to the experimental diets and calculation of the total nutrient equivalency for enzyme caused increased feed intake and decreased feed conversion ratio and Haugh unit. 6. No differences in manure dry matter, crude ash, total nitrogen, tibia crude ash, calcium and phosphorus contents were found among the experimental diets. On the other hand, manure total phosphorus content was significantly decreased in the DDGS diet and diets supplemented with phytase in comparison to the CS diet. 7. It was concluded that the addition of microbial phytase to the CS-based diets or diets with DDGS of hens in late lay and using Ca and available P equivalency of enzyme in feed; formulation may provide an economic benefit and decrease the amount of phytate P excretion in the manure without compromising production and egg quality parameters.

The objective of this trial was to determine the effect of exogenous amylase during the transition period in dairy cows on dry matter intake and lactation performance. The effect of exogenous amylase supplementation on lactation diets with low starch concentration (19.5% of dry matter) and dry period diets with moderate starch concentration (15.5% of dry matter) was evaluated. A total of 30 multiparus Holstein cows were randomly assigned to two groups fed diets with (n=15) or without amylase (n=15). Treatments were granular amylase (0.5 g of Ronozyme RumiStar per kg of total mixed ration dry matter) or control. The research was conducted starting at 21 d prepartum until 84 d postpartum. Starch and neutral detergent fiber concentrations averaged 15.5±0.5% and 15.7±0.9%, 42.6±1.1% and 43.4±1.2% in close up diets and 19.8±2.9% and 19.4±0.5%, 33.6±0.8% and 34.2±0.6% in lactation diets for control and amylase, respectively. Dry matter intake, milk yield and composition were evaluated for differences between treatments. Postpartum intakes of dry matter (DMI) and organic matter (OM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), crude protein (CP), and starch intake were unaffected by treatment. Milk yield was not influenced by treatment, but numerically greater by 2.0 kg/d for cows fed amylase compared with control diet. The percentages of milk fat, protein and lactose were not impressed by treatment, however fat-, solid-, and energy-corrected milk were 2 kg/d greater for cows fed amylase diet than for cows fed control diet. Fat-, solid-, and energy-corrected milk feed conversions (kg/kg DMI) were 5 to 6% greater for cows fed amylase diet than for cows fed control diet (P<0.01). It was concluded that inclusion of amylase improved the feed efficiency of lactating cows fed a low starch diet, may offer for potential to increase milk yield; but the enzyme did not affect DMI.