Supplementation with sodium butyrate improves growth and antioxidant function in dairy calves before weaning

Abstract

Background: There is increasing research interest in using short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) including butyrate as potential alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in animal production. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation of sodium butyrate (SB) in milk and/or milk replacer on the growth performance, rumen fermentation, and serum antioxidant capacity and immunoglobins in dairy calves before weaning. Forty healthy female Holstein calves (4-day-old; 40 ± 5 kg of body weight) were housed in individual hutches and randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatment groups (n = 10 per group). The control group was fed no SB (SB0), while the other three groups were supplemented with 15 (SB15), 30 (SB30), or 45 (SB45) g per day of SB mixed into milk and/or milk replacer. Results: The SB supplementation enhanced growth and improved feed conversion into body weight gain compared with the SB0 group. No significant effect on rumen pH; concentrations of NH3-N, individual and total VFAs; or acetate: propionate (A:P) ratio was found during the whole experimental period. The serum glutathione peroxidase activity was higher in the SB30 and SB45 groups compared with the SB0 group, and the serum level of maleic dialdehyde linearly decreased as the SB supplementation amount increased during the whole experiment. Not influence of SB supplementation was observed on serum concentrations of immunoglobulin A, immunoglobulin G, or immunoglobulin M during the whole experimental period. Conclusions: Under the conditions of this study, SB supplementation improved growth performance and antioxidant ability in pre-weaned dairy calves. We recommended 45 g per day as the optimal level of SB supplementation (mixed into milk and/or milk replacer) to improve the growth and antioxidant function of dairy calves before weaning.

Potential Modulatory Effect of Sodium Butyrate on Tamoxifen Citrate-Induced Damage in the Small Intestine of Rats

“…These data suggested that SB administration effectively augmented the antioxidant defense system of the intestine. These results are consistent with Liu et al [46] who showed that SB improves antioxidant function in dairy calves before weaning.…”

Effects of a functional fatty acid blend on growth performance, intestinal morphology, and serum profiles in weaned piglets

“…In the current study, supplementation with FA2 increased serum IgM concentration on d 28, which is consistent with the previous study [2625,2726]. However, Liu et al found that dietary sodium butyrate did not affect the serum concentrations of any of the 3 antibodies of calves [21], this may be due to the animal species used or methods of butyrate supplementation. Moreover, studies in vivo and ex vivo found that antimicrobial action of MCFA on E. coli and the improvement of MCFA on IgA in piglets [2827].…”

“…Zhang et al reported that dietary sodium butyrate decreased MDA concentration and increased SOD activity of serum in chicken [20]. Furthermore, dietary supplementation of sodium butyrate was shown to increase GSH-Px activity and decrease MDA concentration in pre-weaned A c c e p t e d A r t i c l e dairy calves [21]. In general, these results all showed that butyrate could improve antioxidant ability in animals.…”

Protective role of Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharides against chondrocyte extracellular matrix degeneration through lncRNA GAS5 in osteoarthritis

“…In total, 45 2-month-old male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed adaptively during the first week, weighed, numbered and randomly divided into three groups. Randomization was performed using the 'RAND' function on Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation) 2016 (18). Ultimately, 45 animals were assigned to each of the three following groups: Normal group (n=15), model group (n=15) and the ABPS group (n=15).…”