Effect of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mannan-oligosaccharides on daily weight gain and health of pre-weaned Holstein calves in Chile

Abstract

The objective was to compare the effect of S. cerevisiae and mannan-oligosaccharides on Average Daily Gain (ADG), live weight and health of dairy calves in Chile. Calves were weighed at birth and randomly assigned to 3 groups: (i) Yeast (YS): 5 g/calf/day of a live yeast (n = 25); (ii) Mannan (MN): 3 g/calf/day of mannan-oligosaccharides (n = 25); (iii) Control (CON): no additives (n = 25). Products were offered from the second day of life in the milk replacer during the morning. A blood sample was collected between 2 to 8 days of age to monitor passive immune transfer. Calves were fed a milk replacer (21% crude protein, 17% fat, 14.3% dilution), concentrate (21% crude protein, 2.5% fat) and water free choice until weaning. Diarrhea and pneumonia events were recorded. ADG were analyzed by ANOVA, live weight at 0, 30 and 60 days old by ANOVA for repeated measures and disease incidence by chisquared fisher exact test. ADG were statistically different between YS (0.63 kg/d) and CON (0.56 kg/d) (p≤0.05). No differences were found between MN and CON (p>0.05). The incidence of digestive disorders was 22.7, 23.5 and 14.2% for CON, MN and YS, respectively. This difference was statistically significant (p≤0.05) between YS vs. MN and YS vs. CON, respectively. It is concluded the supplementation with lived yeast improved ADG until weaning and decreased digestive disorders in dairy calves under Chilean conditions.