Nutrient Digestibility of Veal Calves Fed Large Amounts of Different Solid Feeds During the First 80 Days of Fattening

Figures & data

Figure 1. Blood haemoglobin concentrations (least means+SEM) of four veal calves per feeding treatment at days 5, 31 and 80 of fattening. CG, milk-replacer plus corn grain (black); CGS, milk-replacer plus a 80:20 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain and wheat straw (white); CGSES, milk-replacer plus a 72:20:8 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain, wheat straw and extruded soybean (gray). Different letters refer to the significant effect of the day of fattening for P<0.001. Modified from Prevedello et al. (2012).

Table 1. Analysed nutrient composition (mean±standard deviation) of the feeds provided to veal calves throughout the fattening period.

	Milk-replacer		Solid feed (as fed basis)
	Starter^°	Grower/finisher^#	Corn grain	Corn grain+straw (80:20)	Corn grain+straw+extruded soybean (72:20:8)
DM, %	96.5±0.2	96.5±0.4	87.5±0.3	88.3±0.8	89.0±0.2
CP, % DM	23.8±0.6	22.1±1.4	9.1±0.2	8.0±0.1	10.3±0.7
EE, % DM	18.7±0.3	22.8±1.0	3.6±0.2	3.1±0.4	4.6±0.3
NDF, % DM	0.2±0.1	0.4±0.1	10.7±0.4	25.3±4.8	28.2±3.4
NFC, % DM	49.9±0.4	46.9±0.9	75.3±0.5	61.5±4.9	54.5±3.6
Ash, % DM	7.4±0.2	7.8±0.3	1.3±0.1	2.1±0.3	2.4±0.3
Iron, mg/kg	5.6±0.8	7.9±1.2	17.8±2.1	32.1±4.2	40.5±7.9
UFV, /kg DM			1.29	1.09	1.09

DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; NFC, non-fibrous carbohydrate content calculated as: 100-(NDF+CP+ether extract+ash); UVF, Unité Fourragère Viande estimated using reference values proposed by INRA (1988) for the solid feed ingredients.

°Ingredient composition of starter: 50% skimmed milk powder, 22% whey powder, 18% oil and fat, 4% starch, 3% wheat protein, and 3% premix

^#ingredient composition of grower/finisher: 42% whey powder, 30% skimmed milk powder, 23% oil and fat, 2% starch, and 3% premix.

Table 2. Growth performance and feed intake of calves (LSmeans±SEM) in the first 80 days of fattening.

	Feeding treatment		P
	CG	CGS	CGSES
Number of calves	4	4	4
Body weight, kg
Day 1	72.8±1.9	67.2±1.9	71.9±1.9	0.121
Day 80	124.1±1.7^b	127.7±1.8^ab	132.0±1.6^a	0.021
Average daily gain, g/d	712.7±22.4^b	760.5±24.6^ab	818.8±21.4^a	0.021
Feed intake, g of DM/d
Milk-replacer powder	1178.1±6.8	1178.1±6.8	1157.9±6.8	0.070
Solid feed	569.4±19.2	576.4±19.2	546.2±19.2	0.516

CG, milk-replacer plus corn grain; CGS, milk-replacer plus a 80:20 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain and wheat straw; CGSES, milk-replacer plus a 72:20:8 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain, wheat straw and extruded soybean; DM, dry matter.

Table 3. Effect of feeding treatments on dry matter intake and apparent digestibility of veal calves during the 4-day digestibility trial at week 9 of fattening.

	Feeding treatment			SEM	P
	CG	CGS	CGSES
Feed intake, g DM/calf/d	1747.5	1754.5	1704.1	134.1	0.959
Digestibility coefficient, %
DM	93.3^a	88.3^b	86.0^b	0.57	<0.001
CP	89.4^a	85.4^ab	83.4^b	0.99	0.010
EE	92.8	88.5	90.2	1.24	0.104
NDF	57.5	54.6	43.7	5.60	0.239
NFC	97.6^a	96.6^ab	96.2^b	0.30	0.016
Ash	86.5^a	79.7^ab	78.9^b	1.92	0.039

CG, milk-replacer plus corn grain; CGS, milk-replacer plus a 80:20 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain and wheat straw; CGSES, milk-replacer plus a 72:20:8 mixture (as fed basis) of corn grain, wheat straw and extruded soybean; DM, dry matter; CP, crude protein; EE, ether extract; NDF, neutral detergent fibre; NFC, non-fibrous carbohydrate content calculated as: 100-(NDF+CP+ether extract+ash).

^a,bMeans within a row with different superscripts differ among feeding treatments for the reported P value.

Prevedello P. Brscic M. Schiavon E. Cozzi G. Gottardo F., 2012. Effects of the provision of large amounts of solid feeds to veal calves on growth and slaughter performance and intravitam and postmortem welfare indicators. J. Anim. Sci. 90:3538-3546.

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INRA, 1988. Alimentation des bovins, ovins et caprins. Editions Quae, Paris, France.

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