The Effect of Textured Starter Feed with Low and High Determination of Protein to Energy Ratio on Digestibility, Rumen and Blood Parameters of Holstein Calves

The current study was conducted to evaluate the interaction between different levels of protein and feed structure on performance in calves. Accordingly, a total number of 48 Holstein calves (A mixture of both sexes) were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments with 12 replicate pens, based on a factorial design. Dietary treatments consisted of 1) ground starter with % 18 CP, 2) ground starter with % 22 CP, 3) texture starter with % 18 CP and 4) texture starter with % 22 CP. In this study, digestibility of nutrients, rumen and blood parameters of suckling calves were measured. The interaction between the main effects for the amount of beta-hydroxybutyrate in the blood on the 70th day of the experiment was significant (p < 0.05). In this way, flour feed with 18% protein had the lowest amount of beta-hydroxybutyrate. The interaction between the main effects for other blood parameters was not significant (p < 0.05). The interaction between the main effects for ruminal parameters and digestibility was not affected by the form and protein level of the initial feed (p < 0.05). In general, there was no significant difference between the textured feed and coarse grinding, and the protein level of 18 and 22% was not observed in the tested groups.