Journal of Integrative Agriculture ›› 2018, Vol. 17 ›› Issue (2): 415-427.DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(17)61779-9

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  • 收稿日期:2017-01-22 出版日期:2018-02-20 发布日期:2018-02-01

Effects of dietary forage to concentrate ratio and wildrye length on nutrient intake, digestibility, plasma metabolites, ruminal fermentation and fecal microflora of male Chinese Holstein calves

XIA Chuan-qi1*, Aziz-Ur-Rahman Muhammad1, 2*, NIU Wen-jing1, SHAO Tao-qi1, QIU Qing-hua1, SU Hua-wei1, CAO Bing-hai1   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, P.R.China
    2 Institute of Animal and Dairy Sciences, University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Faisalabad 3800, Pakistan  
  • Received:2017-01-22 Online:2018-02-20 Published:2018-02-01
  • Contact: Correspondence CAO Bing-hai, Tel/Fax: +86-10-62814346, E-mail: caobinghai@163.com; SU Hua-wei, E-mail: su_huawei@foxmail.com
  • About author:XIA Chuan-qi, E-mail: xiachuanqi4732@163.com; * These authors contributed equally to this study.
  • Supported by:

    This research was supported by the earmarked fund for China Agriculture Research System (CARS-37) and Special Fund for Agro-scientific Research in the Public Interest (201303144).

Abstract: Twenty-eight male, weaned Chinese Holstein calves ((156.8±33.4) kg) were used to investigate the effects of dietary forage to concentrate ratio (F:C) and forage length on nutrient digestibility, plasma metabolites, ruminal fermentation, and fecal microflora. Animals were randomly allocated to four treatments in a 2×2 factorial arrangement: whole-length forage (WL) with low F:C (50:50); WL with high F:C (65:35); short-length forage (SL) with high F:C (65:35); and SL with low F:C (50:50).  Chinese wildrye was used as the only forage source in this trial.  The grass in the SL treatments was chopped using a chaff cutter to achieve small particle size (~50% particles >19 mm).  Dry matter intake (DMI) and organic matter (OM) intake was increased by increasing both F:C (P<0.01) and forage length (FL) (P<0.05), while acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) intakes were only increased by increasing the F:C (P<0.01).  The digestibility of NDF was increased as the FL increased (P<0.01), and it was also affected by interaction between F:C and FL (P<0.05).  Cholesterol (CHO) (P<0.01), leptin (LP) (P<0.05), and growth hormone (GH) (P<0.01) concentrations in plasma were increased as dietary F:C increased.  A significant increase in plasma triglyceride (TG) (P<0.01), insulin (INS) (P<0.05), and GH (P<0.01) levels was observed with decreasing dietary FL.  Ruminal pH values of calves fed with low F:C diets were significantly lower than those in high F:C treatment (P<0.05).  Increasing the F:C enhanced ruminal acetic acid (P<0.05) and acetic acid/propionic acid (P<0.01).  Fecal Lactobacillus content was significantly higher, while Escherichia coli and Salmonella contents were significantly lower in WL and high F:C groups (P<0.05).  Lower fecal scores (higher diarrhea rate) were observed in calves fed with SL hay compared to WL hay (P<0.05).  Denatured gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) bands and richness index (S) were significantly affected by the interaction between F:C and FL (P<0.05), under high F:C, band numbers and richness index from WL group were higher than that from SL group (P<0.05), whereas there were no differences between WL and SL groups under low F:C (P>0.05).  Microflora similarity was 50–73% among the different treatments.  It is concluded that the WL with high F:C (65:35) diet is suitable for weaned calves.

Key words: forage to concentrate ratio ,  forage length ,  nutrient digestibility ,  plasma metabolites ,  ruminal fermentation ,  fecal microflora ,  male Holstein calves