Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-02T19:33:13.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The development of solid food intake in calves 3. The relation between solid food intake and the development of the alimentary tract

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. Hodgson
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural Sciences, The University, Leeds 2
Get access

Summary

1. Jersey calves were fed on milk substitute at the rate of 10% of live weight per day for 5 weeks and were offered either chopped dried grass or ground, pelleted dried grass to appetite. Calves were slaughtered at birth and after 5, 6, 7, 9 and 12 weeks on experiment, and the weights of the component parts of the alimentary tract and their contents were measured.

2. There were close correlations between the weights of the sections of the alimentary tract or their contents and the solid food intake at slaughter, total solid food intake, or empty body weight of the calves. There were no consistent changes with age in the DM concentration or the density of the digesta in any section of the alimentary tract except the abomasum, or in the digestibility or mean retention time of the diets.

3. Grinding and pelleting the diet increased the DM concentration but did not affect the density of the digesta. The increase in the weight of rumen contents per unit increase in dry-matter intake was much greater for chopped than for pelleted diets. The reverse was true for the contents of the abomasum and small intestine. There were relatively small variations between diets in the predicted weight of rumen contents, total digesta, or the volume of organs in the abdomen, at the within-diet mean levels of dry-matter intake.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Balch, C. C. and Campling, R. C. 1962. Regulation of voluntary food intake in rumin-ants.Nutr. Abst. Rev. 32: 669686.Google Scholar
Balch, C. C. and Campling, R. C. 1965. Rate of passage of digesta through the ruminant digestive tract. In Physiology of Digestion in the Ruminant (ed. Dougherty, R. W.), pp. 108123. Butterworth's, London.Google Scholar
Campling, R. C, Freer, M. and Balch, C. C. 1963. Factors affecting the voluntary intake of food by cows. 6. A preliminary experiment with ground pelleted hay. Br. J. Nutr. 17: 263272.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castle, Elizabeth J. 1956. The rate of passage of foodstuffs through the alimentary tract of the goat. 1. Studies on adult animals fed hay and concentrates. Br. J. Nutr. 10: 1523.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Flatt, W. A., Warner, R. G. and Loosli, J. K. 1959. Evaluation of several techniques used in the study of developing rumen function. Mem. Cornell Univ. agric. Exp. Stn,No. 361.Google Scholar
Godfrey, N. W. 1961. The functional development of the calf. I. Growth of the stomach of the calf. J. agric. Sci., Camb. 57: 173175.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, H. N., Warner, R. G., and Loosli, J. K. 1960. Changes in the tissue and volume of the stomachs of calves following the removal of dry feed or consumption of inert bulk. J. Dairy Sci. 43: 13011312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgson, J. 1971a. The development of solid food intake in calves. 1. The effect of previous experience of solid food, and the physical form of the diet, on the development of food intake after weaning. Anim. Prod. 13: 1524.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J. 1971b. The development of solid food intake in calves. 2. Studies on the volume of rumen fluid determined by an indirect method. Anim. Prod. 13: 2536.Google Scholar
Hodgson, J. 1971c. The development of solid food intake in calves. 4. The effect of the addition of material to the rumen, or its removal from the rumen, on voluntary food intake. Anim. Prod, (in press).Google Scholar
Kesler, E. M., Ronning, M. and Knodt, C. B. 1951. Some physicial characteristics of the tissue and contents of the rumen, abomasum and intestines in male Holstein calves of various ages. Anim. Sci. 10: 969974.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kromann, R. P. and Meyer, J. H. 1966. Energy metabolism in sheep as influenced by interactions among the rations energy content, physical form and buffers. J. Anim. Sci. 25: 10961101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Large, R. V. 1964. The development of the lamb with particular reference to the alimentary tract. Anim. Prod. 6: 169178.Google Scholar
Makela, A. 1956. Studies on the question of bulk in the nutrition of farm animals with special reference to cattle. Soum. maatal. Seur. Julk. No. 85.Google Scholar
Meyer, J. H., Gaskill, R. L., Stoewsand, G. S. and Weir, W. C. 1959. Influence of pelleting on the utilisation of alfalfa. J. Anim. Sci. 18: 336346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, J. H., Kromann, R. P. and Garrett, W. N. 1965. Digestion (influence of roughage preparation). In Physiology of Digestion in the Ruminant (ed. Dougherty, R. W.),. pp. 262271. Butterworth's, London.Google Scholar
Moore, L. A. 1964. Nutritive value of forage as affected by physical form. Part I. General principles involved with ruminants and effect of feeding pelleted or wafered forage to dairy cattle. J. Anim. Sci. 23: 230238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paloheimo, L. 1944. Ober die Kapazitat der Magen bei Milchkiihen. Maataloust. Julk. 16: 113.Google Scholar
Pearce, G. R. 1967. Changes in particle size in the reticulorumen of sheep. Aust. J. agric. Res. 18: 119126.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Preston, T. R. 1963. The nutrition of the early weaned calf. Wld Rev. Nutr. Diet. 4: 117139.Google Scholar
Roy, J. H. B. 1958. The nutrition of the early weaned dairy calf: a review. Dairy Sci. Abstr. 20: 410.Google Scholar
Roy, J. H. B., Shillam, K. W. G., Hawkins, Gillian M. and Lang, Jill. 1958. The milk requirements of the newborn calf. Br. J. Nutr. 12: 123127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sissons, S. and Grossman, J. D. 1956. The Anatomy of the Domestic Animals (4th ed. revised), pp. 455477. W. B. Saunders Co, Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Stobo, I. J. F. 1964. Studies on the nutrition of young cattle with special reference to rumen development and protein requirements of the early weaned calf. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. Reading.Google Scholar
Stobo, I. J. F., Roy, J. H. B. and Gaston, Helen J. 1966a. Rumen development in the calf. 1. The effect of diets containing different proportions of concentrates to hay on rumen development. Br. J. Nutr. 20: 171188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stobo, I. J. F., Roy, J. H. B. and Gaston, Helen J. 1966b. Rumen development in the calf. 2. The effect of diets containing different proportions of concentrates to hay on digestive efficiency. Br. J. Nutr. 20: 189216.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sutton, J. D., McGilliard, A. D., Richard, M. and Jacobson, N. L. 1963. Functional development of rumen mucosa. II. Metabolic activity. J. Dairy Sci. 46: 530537CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tamate, H. 1957. The anatomical studies of the stomach of the goat. II. The post-natal changes in the capacities and relative size of the four divisions of the stomach. Tohoku. J. agric. Res. 8: 6577.Google Scholar
Ulyatt, M. J., Blaxter, K. L. and McDonald, I. 1967. The relations between the rumen and lower gut of sheep, the volume of fluid in the rumen and voluntary intake. Anim. Prod. 9: 463470.Google Scholar
Wardrop, I. D. and Coombe, J. B. 1961. The development of rumen function in the lamb. Aust. J. agric. Res. 12: 661680.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warner, R. G. and Flatt, W. P. 1965. Anatomical development of the ruminant stomach. In Physiology of Digestion in the Ruminant (ed. Dougherty, R. W.), pp. 2438. Butterworth's, London.Google Scholar