Effects of dietary organic acid and pure botanical supplementation on growth performance and circulating measures of metabolic health in Holstein calves challenged by heat stress.

To evaluate the effects of heat stress environmental conditioning and dietary supplementation with organic acid and pure botanicals (OA/PB) on growth in dairy calves, we enrolled 62 bull (noncastrated) and heifer calves in a study with a completely randomized design. Calves were assigned to 1 of 5 groups (n = 11 to 14/group): (1) thermoneutral conditions (TN-Con), (2) HS conditions (HS-Con), (3) thermoneutral conditions and pair-fed to match nutrient intake with HS-Con (TN-PF), (4) HS with low-dose OA/PB [75 mg/kg of body weight (BW); 25% citric acid, 16.7% sorbic acid, 1.7% thymol, 1.0% vanillin, and 55.6% triglyceride; HS-Low], or (5) HS with high-dose OA/PB (150 mg/kg of BW; HS-High). Supplements were delivered as a twice-daily bolus via the esophagus from wk 1 through 13 of life; all calves, including those on the control treatments, received an equivalent amount of triglyceride used for microencapsulation. Calves were raised in TN conditions from birth until weaning. After weaning, calves (62 ± 2 d; 91 ± 10.9 kg of BW) were transported to a new facility and remained in TN conditions [temperature-humidity index (THI): 60 to 69] for a 7-d covariate period. Thereafter, calves remained in TN or were moved to HS conditions (THI: diurnal change 75 to 83 during night and day, respectively) for 19 d. Clinical assessments were performed thrice daily, BW was recorded weekly, and blood was sampled on d 1, 2, 3, 8, 15, and 19. Upon experiment completion, calves from HS-Con and TN-Con were euthanized, and hot carcass and visceral organ weights were recorded. The mixed model included calf as a random effect; treatment, day, hour (when appropriate) as fixed effects, and the interactions of treatment × day and treatment × hour (when appropriate). Rectal and skin temperatures and respiration rates were greater in HS-Con than in TN-Con. During heat stress exposure, dry matter intake (DMI), average daily gain (ADG), and gain to feed (G:F) were lower in HS-Con relative to TN-Con. Comparing HS-Con and TN-PF, ADG and G:F were similar. Plasma fatty acid concentrations were elevated in TN-PF compared with HS-Con and TN-Con. Despite tendencies for increased aspartate aminotransferase, HS conditions did not overtly influence liver and inflammation markers. Liver weights were lower in HS-Con relative to TN-Con. During the first week of heat exposure, DMI was greater for HS-Low relative to HS-Con. Supplementation of OA/PB at low and high levels had a similar G:F to HS-Con. We conclude that reductions in DMI accounted for production losses during HS conditioning and that dietary OA/PB supplementation was not able to improve growth performance in heat-stressed calves.