Effects of pre-weaning probiotic treatments on growth performance and biochemical blood parameters of Holstein calves

The present study was conducted to assess the effects of pre-weaning probiotic treatments on growth performance of maleHolstein calves. For experimental treatments, 20 male calves were divided into 2 groups as of control and treatment group.Control group calves were supplied with fresh milk daily in two meals without any growth promoting supplement. Togetherwith fresh milk supply, treatment group calves were supplied with additional 2 g probiotics to their morning meal. Throughout56-day milk-feeding period, live weights (LW) and feed consumptions (FC) of the calves were determined. As comparedto the control group, probiotic-supplemented calves had 5.25% higher weaning live weight and 11.4% higher daily liveweight gain (P<0.05). Probiotic-supplemented calves consumed 2% more feed than the control calves (P>0.05) and had9.52% better feed conversion ratio than the control group calves (P<0.05). Probiotic supplementation did not affect bloodbiochemical parameters significantly (P<0.05), except ALT, triglyceride and iron levels (P<0.05). It was concluded thatprobiotic supplementation during milk-feeding period improved growth performance of experimental Holstein calves.