Short communication: Effect of inclusion rate of microencapsulated sodium butyrate in starter mixture for dairy calves

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different inclusion rates of microencapsulated sodium butyrate (M-SB) in the starter mixture (SM) on performance of dairy calves. Forty female Holstein calves with a mean (+SD) age of 12.8 (+1.5) d were allocated to 1 of 4 treatments (10 calves/treatment) and fed SM without (M-SB-0) or with 0.3% (M-SB-0.3), 0.6% (M-SB-0.6), or 0.9% (M-SB-0.9) of M-SB (as fed) during a 49-d period of milk replacer feeding. The milk replacer was fed at 670 g/d divided into 2 equal meals. Starter mixture with or without M-SB was offered for ad libitum consumption beginning on the first day of the trial. Body weight of calves was recorded weekly, whereas intakes of milk replacer and SM and fecal fluidity were recorded daily. Intake of SM decreased linearly with increasing M-SB inclusion rate. Average daily gain decreased and body weight gain tended to decrease linearly with increasing amounts of M-SB in SM, but feed efficiency was not affected. Fecal score and number of days with diarrhea increased cubically with increasing M-SB inclusion rate in SM. Under the conditions of the current study, supplementation of SM with M-SB had a negative effect on performance of calves.