Effect of the Initial Time of Providing Oat Hay on Performance, Health, Behavior and Rumen Fermentation in Holstein Female Calves

Tianyu Chen, Jianxin Xiao, Tingting Li, Jing Ma, Gibson Maswayi Alugongo, Muhammad Zahoor Khan, Shuai Liu, Wei Wang, Yajing Wang, Shengli Li and Zhijun Cao
Additional contact information
Tianyu Chen: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Jianxin Xiao: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Tingting Li: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Jing Ma: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Gibson Maswayi Alugongo: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Muhammad Zahoor Khan: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Shuai Liu: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Wei Wang: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Yajing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Shengli Li: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
Zhijun Cao: State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Beijing Engineering Technology Research Center of Raw Milk Quality and Safety Control, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China

Agriculture, 2021, vol. 11, issue 9, 1-18

Abstract: For determining the appropriate time of feeding hay, 210 healthy Holstein calves at day two were randomly divided into three groups: basic diet (calf starter) without hay (CON), and the inclusion of oat hay from the second week (H2) or fourth week (H4) with basic diet. Calves were weaned on day 56 and raised until day 70. Calf starter intake and fecal scores were recorded daily. The body weight, body size, and rumen fluid samples were collected every two weeks before and once a week after weaning. Compared to the basic diet group, the calves that were receiving oat hay from the second week had the highest starter intake (1086.1 g vs. 925.6 g; p < 0.05), body weight (68.4 kg vs. 63.0 kg; p < 0.01) and average daily gain (0.84 kg/d vs. 0.73 kg/d; p < 0.01) throughout the trial period. Compared to H4, calves received oat hay from the second week reduced the frequency (1.48% vs. 3.57%; p < 0.05) and duration of diarrhea (0.21 days vs. 0.50 days; p < 0.05) during post-weaning. Compared to the CON calves, the inclusion of oat hay from the second week increased the ruminal pH (6.38 vs. 6.19; p < 0.01) during the entire trial and increased the acetate (49.07% vs. 44.44%; p < 0.05) during post-weaning. Compared to the basic diet group, calves in H2 treatment spent more time in rumination (275.2 min/day vs. 133.3 min/day; p < 0.01) but less time in abnormal behaviors (80.5 min/day vs. 207.0 min/day; p < 0.01). In conclusion, calves supplemented with oat hay had an improved growth rate and rumen environment compared to calves fed calf starter only.

Keywords: calf; oat hay; time; growth performance; rumen fermentation; calf diarrhea; calf behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/862/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/9/862/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:9:p:862-:d:632426

Access Statistics for this article

Agriculture is currently edited by Ms. Leda Xuan

More articles in Agriculture from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().