RYE AS RUMEN HEALTH PROMOTER IN CALVES
Promoting rumen development and health in rearing calves with rye
Picture: Barbara Metzler-Zebeli
Picture: Felipe Penagos-Tabares
Picture: Felipe Penagos-Tabares
A variety of cereals, typically wheat, barley and corn, are used in the starter feed for neonatal calves. Especially the early solid feed intake and butyrate production should be promoted to stimulate rumen development and function as well as rumination. Rye is rich in dietary fiber components, such as fructans and arabinoxylans, which can stimulate intestinal butyrate fermentation as shown for the large intestine of pigs (Bach Knudsen et al., 2017). Another advantage of rye feeding are the lower demands for nutrients of rye during the growing period and the capability of this crop to grow on drier soils, providing growth advantages in dry summers compared to other cereal grains. With modern hybrid rye, there is also a lower risk of ergot contamination, making rye a cost-effective alternative for livestock feeding. Moreover, the feed that is provided should have a certain coarseness to control fermentation intensity and prevent abnormal growth of papillae and impaction of feed particles in the rumen of neonatal calves as often observed with finely ground feed. In the present project, we will evaluate the capability and the extent to which rye modifies rumen fermentation and stimulates butyrate production in vitro by testing different dietary inclusion levels and particles sizes of rye. Subsequently, we will investigate the development of the rumen and digestive system in rearing calves in a feeding trial. We assume that the fibre in rye will accelerate the rumen and intestinal colonization with fibrolytic and butyrate-producing bacteria, thereby stimulating the development and digestive capacity of the whole rumen-intestinal tract. The anti-inflammatory properties of butyrate may further lower levels of oxidative stress in the gut, which should be reflected in lower cytokine levels in rye-fed calves.
Lead Researcher:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Barbara Metzler-Zebeli
Head of Nutritional Physiology,
Centre for Veterinary Systems Transformation and Sustainability
Barbara.Metzler@vetmeduni.ac.at
+43 1 25077-4117
www.vetmeduni.ac.at
