Effect of Pepsin on the Growth and Health of Young Dairy Calves Fed Various Milk-Replacer Rations

Abstract

Sixty-four two-day-old Holstein calves were divided into eight groups and placed on experiment for 70 days, to study the value of supplementing various milk-replacer rations with the enzyme pepsin. Four pairs of replacers were fed which ranged from a high-dried skimmilk-no soya flour ration to a no-dried skimmilk-high soya flour ration. The composition of each pair of" replacers was the same, except that four contained 0.5% pepsin and four did not. Since the soya flour contained a higher percentage of protein than the dried skimmilk, as the percentage of soya flour increased in the replacers it was necessary to decrease the amount of dried whey and to increase the percentage of cerelose, in order to keep the protein content of the replacers comparable.