Genotype—Environment Interaction in Calf Production. I. Growth Traits

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The experiment involved 48 pairs of male Holstein fraternal twin calves. Two methods of raising calves were contrasted: (A) High fat (20%) and protein (20%) vealer ration fed from 3 days of age to a market weight of 128 kilograms. (B) The same vealer was fed up to a live weight of 56.7 kg, followed by pelleted grain mixture fed ad libitum and hay offered to a maximum of 0.9 kg per day. Twin pairs were fed either uniformly on ration (A) or (B) or split; one twin being fed on each ration. The design provided to test the hypotheses on rations, pairs and ration by pair interaction effects. No evidence was found for significant ration × pair interaction for growth traits. Calves fed the two rations gained similarly in weight and height, however vealer fed calves had significantly (P<.05) higher weekly changes in heart girth. The vealer fed calves consumed significantly (P<.01) less dry matter, estimated TDN and estimated TDN per kilogram of gain. Copyright © 1972. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1972 by American Society of Animal Science

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: