Effects of feeding sources of Omega-3 & Omega-9 on immune system, weight gain and dry matter intake of male and female Holstein calves

This experiment assessed to determine the best doses of fatty acids Omega 3 and 9 in food sources for milk calves, to have the maximum growth and immunity. In this experiment, employed a higher dosage of fatty acid Omega 3 and 9, as proposed by NRC 2001. So, a predetermined amount of Omega 3 and 9 added to the milk replacement for calves in the nursing period. This was done in a stochastic manner for three groups of seven calves. There were 3 treatments. Treat 1: Control, were fed only milk replacement, Treat 2: were fed fish oil, after an adaptation period for each calf, 35 g/d fish oil was added to the milk replacement, treat 3: were fed Canola Oil, after an adaptation period for each calf, 35g/d Canola oil was added to the milk replacement. In the course of experiment, bleeding was implemented four times: On birth, at the onset of oil addition, on ablactation, and two weeks after ablactation. More over, height, weight and length of Calves bodies were measured along with bleeding, DMI were measured daily too. The results indicate that, only the effect of fish oil on the increased numbers of white cells in the blood of calves at the end of the experiment was significant (P<0.05), while increasing the number of lymphocytes and neutrophils was not significant as well as the addition of fish oil (Omega 3) leads to an increase of average food consumption, and significant daily weight-gaining (P<0.05).