Supplementation with sodium butyrate improves rumen fermentation, antioxidant capability, and immune function in dairy calves before weaning

Background Short-chain fatty acids including butyrate have received increasing research interest as potential alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) in animal production. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation of sodium butyrate (SB) on the growth performance, rumen fermentation, antioxidant capacity, and immune response of calves before weaning. Healthy Holstein female calves (4-day-old; 40 ± 5 kg of body weight) were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 treatment groups (n = 10 per group). The control group was fed no SB (SB0), while the other groups were supplemented with 2% (SB2), 4% (SB4), or 6% (SB6) of SB/kg of dry matter. All calves were housed in individual hutches. Results The SB supplementation enhanced growth rate and improved feed conversion into body weight gain compared with the SB0 group. At 60 days of age, the rumen fluid pH increases quadratically with increased SB supplementation, and the ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration of rumen fluid in the treatment groups were significantly lower than that of the SB0 group. There was a quadratic effect that indicated that the SB4 treatment was most effective in reducing the NH3-N concentration. The concentration of volatile fatty acids and Acetic: Propionic in rumen fluid were not affected by SB in any groups. At 28 days of age, the serum level of maleic dialdehyde of the SB groups was significantly lower than that of the control group, and the glutathione peroxidase activity in the serum of group SB4 was significantly increased compared with the that of the control group. At 28 days of age, SB had a quadratic effect on serum immunoglobulin A concentration, with the greatest increase being observed in group SB4. At 60 days of age, the serum immunoglobulin G concentration increased linearly as SB levels increased. Conclusions Under the conditions of this study, there were positive effects of SB supplementation on growth performance, rumen fermentation, antioxidant ability, and immune function in calves before weaning. We recommended 4% as the optimal SB supplementation level to improve growth, antioxidant and immune function of calves before weaning.

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