Effect of Enzyme Supplementation of Milk Replacers on the Growth of Calves

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to determine the effect of supplementing milk replacers with enzymes. In the first experiment, a vegetable milk replacer was predigested with malt diastase, papain, and a combination of these enzymes. Fifty-five pounds of milk were fed through the 20th day and 30.5 lb. of the treated milk replacer were fed through the 40th day. The experiment was terminated at 60 days. There was no significant improvement in growth or feed consumption with any of the treatmeats at either 40 or 60 days. Decreased growth and appetite, and increased mortality, although not significant, tended to indicate that the use of papain produced deleterious effects in this experiment. In the second experiment, soybean flour-corn, soybean flour-cerelose, and skimmilk-cerelose milk replacers were supplemented with pepsin but were not predigested. All other aspects of this experiment were similar to the first one. Pepsin produced no improvement in growth with any of the replacers. The skimmilk-cerelose replacer produced significantly greater growth than the other replacers at 40, and the soybean flour-cerelose replacer at 60, days. The soybean flour-cerelose replacer sigaifieantly decreased the rate of starter consumption through 40 days.