Influence of processing type and level of flaxseed on the nutrient digestibility and blood parameters and safety of infant calves

Flax products (seeds and meal) are one of the sources of energy and protein for ruminants. Flaxseed is an vegetable oil that contains 45-40% of oil and 23-30% of protein. In addition to extracting oil, its meal can be used as a protein source in animal feed diets. Although flaxseed is a very inexpensive and affordable source of omega-3s, more than 50 percent of its fatty acids are made from alpha-linolenic acid, but it cannot be used at high levels due to its anti-nutritional properties. Flaxseed processing improves nutrient consumption while reducing the negative effects of anti-nutritional substances such as lintine and makes food more palatable. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of processing type and level of flaxseed on the nutrient digestibility and blood parameters and safety of infant calves.

In order to investigate the effect of processing type and flaxseed level on the digestibility of nutrients and blood parameters and safety of infant calves, was used from 20 newborn Holstein male (with an initial weight of 41±5.4 kg). This experiment was performed in the form of a 2 × 2 factorial design with 4 treatments and 5 replications. Treatments included: 1- Treatments containing 5% micronized flaxseed, 2- Treatment containing 10% micronized flaxseed, 3- Treatment containing 5% extruded flaxseed and 4- Treatment containing 10% extruded flaxseed. The rations were provided to calves as pellets and were adjusted. The entire trial period was 60 days, including 14 days of habituation. Feed and fecal samples were collected in the last 5 days of each treatment period to determine nutrient digestibility. On the last day of the blood test, each of the treatments was performed to determine blood and immune parameters. Flaxseed replaced corn and soybean meal in the starter diet. Given that the effect of treatments on the amount of dry matter, daily weight gain, final weight of calves and also due to improved digestibility of nutrients was not significant, It is recommended to use flaxseed in the diet of infant calves at the level of 5% as a source of energy and protein.

Based on the results of this experiment, different levels of processed grains had a significant effect on the digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein, insoluble fiber in neutral detergent, insoluble fiber in acidic detergent and crude fat (P <0.05). so that the highest digestibility of nutrients belonged to treatments containing 10% extruded flax and 10% micronized flaxseed. Also Experimental treatments also had a significant effect on blood urea nitrogen (P <0.05), but other blood and immune supplements such as cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, crude protein, albumin, HDL, LDL, VLDL, IGG, and the number of blood cells White, neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and the ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes were not affected by experimental treatments (P <0.05).

Considering that the results of this experiment show that using processed flaxseed at the 10% level improves the digestibility of nutrients, We can use 10% extruded flaxseed as a source of energy and protein in the diets of infants.