Performance of dairy calves supplemented with prebiotic

Abstract

For calves, the transition period from liquid to solid diets can result in the development of enteric diseases and lower performance. The use of prebiotics can help promote improvements in the host's health conditions. In this context, the objective was to evaluate the use of prebiotics (polydextrose - DEX, and fructooligosaccharides - FOS) on the development of calves until weaning. Fifteen half blood calves (Girolanda, mean age 14±6) were used, distributed in a randomized block design in three treatments: Control (CTL) milk without addition of prebiotic until weaning (71±5.8 days); FOS, milk with FOS probiotic until weaning; DEX, milk with DEX prebiotic until weaning. The inclusion dose of prebiotics (INGREDION®) was 3% of the milk DM, diluted in 50ml of milk and supplied to the animals in individual 60mL syringes to confirm intake. At the beginning and end of the experimental period, the animals were weighed individually on electronic scales to assess weight gain and morphometric measurements were measured weekly. Daily weight gain was higher (P<0.01) in calves in the FOS (0.954 kg) and DEX (0.845 kg) treatments compared to the CTL treatment (0.635 kg). Animals supplemented with prebiotic had greater withers height (83.3 and 83.2 cm, FOS and DEX) and abdominal circumference (90.7 and 90.1 cm, FOS and DEX) than animals in the CTL group (80.7 and 86 cm, respectively). It is concluded that the use of prebiotics, both FOS and DEX, enabled an improvement in the growth rates of calves until weaning.