Short communication: Effects of porcine plasma or combined sodium butyrate and Bacillus subtilis on growth and health of grain-fed veal calves

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of incorporating 2 commonly used additives or spray-dried porcine plasma in calf milk replacer (CMR) on calf performance and health. Male Holstein calves (n = 158) transported from auction barns and local dairy farms were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 3 decoquinate-containing CMR for the first 49 d of the experiment: all milk protein and no additives (CONT); 15% of crude protein (CP) replaced with spray-dried porcine plasma, no additives (PLM); or all milk protein and an added combination of sodium butyrate (rate 1.4 kg of butyric acid/Mt) and Bacillus subtilis (1.28 million cfu/g of feed; BB). All milk replacers were formulated to contain 26% CP and 17% fat, 2.4% Lys, and 0.8% Met, and were bucket-fed at daily feeding rates of 520 g during wk 1 and 2, 650 g during wk 3, and 900 g during wk 4 and 5, in a total of 4, 5, and 6 L of solution, respectively. Calves were offered texturized calf starter (18% CP) upon arrival until wk 3 and transitioned to a corn and pellet ration with 2% straw (18.1% CP). No prophylactic administration of antibiotics occurred. All calves were gradually weaned over a 2-wk period. Calves were individually housed until weaned and then housed in groups of 5 in a mechanically ventilated facility in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Fecal scores, treatments administered (antibiotic or supportive therapy), and mortalities were recorded daily. Body weight was measured using a digital scale at arrival and at 14, 49, 56, and 78 d after arrival. No differences were found among the groups with respect to growth, feed efficiency, or incidence of diarrhea or respiratory infection treatment. Calves supplemented with BB had a greater hazard of mortality over the growing period compared with CONT. An interaction was found between the BB group and the level of total serum protein, with the BB group having a lower proportion of days with a fecal score of 3 when the calves had a higher total serum protein level. Calves fed PLM had a lower proportion of d with a fecal score of 3 relative to CONT but no difference in the proportion of d with a fecal score of 2 or higher. This study found that the addition of spraydried plasma in CMR reduced diarrhea severity; however, supplementing BB was associated with a higher hazard of calf mortality and had a varying response on fecal score.

Effects of spray-dried bovine plasma protein in milk replacers fed at a high plane of nutrition on performance, intestinal permeability, and morbidity of Holstein calves

“…This finding is consistent with Morrill et al (1995), who observed improved BW gains when feeding SDP. Conversely, Morrison et al (2017a) and Wood et al (2019) found no differences in ADG when feeding diets containing levels of SDP similar to those in the current study. Increasing SDP had contrasting effects on frame growth parameters, with increasing SDP leading to an increase in withers height and tending to lead to an increase in withers height ADG but a decrease in body length and hip width (Table 5).…”

“…However, these studies used MR formulations with lower overall CP contents and fed at a lower plane of nutrition. Wood et al (2019) fed an MR with protein and fat contents similar to the ones used in this study and replaced 15% of skim milk-based protein with SDP; they found no differences in growth or medication level but did find a decrease in severe scours.…”

Effect of a Multispecies Probiotic Mixture on the Growth and Incidence of Diarrhea, Immune Function, and Fecal Microbiota of Pre-weaning Dairy Calves

“…Multispecies probiotics [Lactobacillus acidophilus (McFarland et al, 2018;Łukasik and Szajewska, 2018), Bacillus subtilis (Rui and Ma, 2020), Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Thévenot et al, 2015)] have achieved certain results in human application, and there are similar reports in animals. Studies have found that Lactobacillus acidophilus (Sharma et al, 2018), Bacillus subtilis (Sun et al, 2010;Zhang et al, 2017;Wood et al, 2019), and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Fomenky et al, 2018;Villot et al, 2019) can improve calf growth performance by improving immune function and balancing the structure of intestinal microbiota. The objectives of this study are: (1) To evaluate whether MSP supplementation can reduce the incidence of diarrhea in pre-weaning calves while improving the growth performance.…”

Effect of porcine plasma on growth and health of Holstein calves

“…Enteric disease challenge was greater in these other studies. Significant respiratory disease challenge did occur in this trial (65% of calves were treated for respiratory disease) but feeding spray-dried porcine plasma (Wood et al, 2019) or spray-dried bovine plasma (Wood et al, 2013) to calves has not been shown to affect its incidence.…”

“…In studies using SDPP, it has been shown to reduce calf mortality and days with diarrhea when used at 5% inclusion in the formula, replacing 20% of the CP compared with a whey protein concentrate-based formula (Quigley and Wolfe, 2003). In addition, when replacing 15% of whey-based proteins, SDPP was shown to reduce the severity of diarrhea and provide comparable performance (Wood et al, 2019).…”