Impact of the flour of Jerusalem artichoke on the production of methane and carbon dioxide and growth performance in calves

Vet World Vol.11 November-2018 Article-2

Research Article

Veterinary World, 11(11): 1532-1538

https://doi.org/10.14202/vetworld.2018.1532-1538

Sintija Jonova¹, Aija Ilgaza¹, Inga Grinfelde², and Maksims Zolovs³

1. Preclinical Institute , Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kr. Helmana Street 8, Jelgava, LV-3004, Latvia.
2. Department of Environment and Water Management , Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Environmental and Civil Engineering, Akademijas Street 19, Jelgava, LV-3001, Latvia.
3. Department of Biosystematics , Daugavpils University, Institute of Life Sciences and Technology, Parades Street 1a, Daugavpils, LV-5401, Latvia.

Background and Aim: The aim of the research was to evaluate the growth performance, to measure the amount of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in calves' rumen, and to compare the obtained results between the control group (CoG) and the experimental group (Pre12) which received the additional supplement of the prebiotic inulin.

Materials and Methods: The research was conducted with ten Holstein Friesian (Bos taurus L.) crossbreed calves with an average age of 33±6 days. Calves were split into two groups: 5 calves that were fed with the control non-supplemented diet (CoG) and 5 calves that were fed with the same diet further supplemented with 12 g of flour of Jerusalem artichoke (Helianthus tuberosus L.) containing 6 g of prebiotic inulin per 0.5 kg of barley flour diet (Pre12). The duration of the experiment was 56 days. CH4 and CO2 were measured using cavity ringdown spectroscopy device Picarro G2508. The weight and samples from calves' rumen were evaluated 3 times during the experimental period - on the 1st, 28th, and 56th days. Samples were obtained by puncturing the calf rumen.

Results: The weight gain (kg) during the whole experimental period was higher in the Pre12 (65.8±6.57) compared to CoG (36.8±7.98) calves (p<0.001). The daily weight gain was also increased in the Pre12 (1.2±0.12) than CoG (0.7±0.14) calves (p<0.001). There was no difference in the levels of CH4 and CO2 produced in the rumen of CoG and Pre12 calves (p>0.05).

Conclusion: The main results showed that the prebiotic inulin can promote weight gain in calves, without affecting the mean concentration of CH4 and CO2 in calves' rumen. Keywords: calves, carbon dioxide, inulin, methane, weight gain.

Keywords: calves, carbon dioxide, inulin, methane, weight gain.

How to cite this article: Jonova S, Ilgaza A, Grinfelde I, Zolovs M (2018) Impact of the flour of Jerusalem artichoke on the production of methane and carbon dioxide and growth performance in calves, Veterinary World, 11(11): 1532-1538.

Received: 06-06-2018 Accepted: 24-09-2018 Published online: 03-11-2018

Corresponding author: Sintija Jonova E-mail: sintija.jonova@llu.lv

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2018.1532-1538

Copyright: Jonova, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.