Supplementation of an organic mineral source modulated metabolic profile, insulin sensitivity, and oxidative stress in dairy calves with different birth body weights

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of partial replacement of inorganic minerals (IM) with advanced chelated minerals (ACMS) in the starter diets of calves of different birth body weights (BBW) on metabolic indices and glucose tolerance test. Fifty-two Holstein calves were assigned to one of 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with two mineral sources (IM or ACMS) and two BBW (low or normal birth weight; LBW or NBW). Calves were weaned on day 56 and remained in the study until day 71 of the study. Blood samples for blood metabolite analysis were collected from the jugular vein on days 30, 60, and 70 of the study, and for hematology on days 36, 56, and 70. The results showed that the interaction of starter mineral sources (MS) and BBW affected the overall plasma concentration of β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), with the highest value being obtained during treatment with LBW-ACMS. In addition, an interaction between MS and BBW was observed in plasma insulin concentrations, with LBW-IM calves having the lowest concentrations compared to the other treatments. Plasma albumin concentrations were lower in LBW calves than in NBW calves. In addition, NBW calves had greater plasma concentrations of glucose (day 60), insulin (day 30), BHB (day 30), and malondialdehyde (MDA; day 60 and the overall period) than LBW calves, while total antioxidant capacity (TAC) tended to reverse at day 70. The ACMS starter increased plasma glucose concentration at day 30 and tended to increase plasma BHB concentration in the overall period. In addition, plasma MDA concentrations were lower in calves receiving ACMS than in calves receiving IM during the overall period. NBW calves tended to have more eosinophils (day 70), basophils (day 36), and erythrocytes (RBC, day 56, and the overall period) in plasma than LBW calves. Regardless of BBW, feeding ACMS starter increased white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils, and eosinophils at day 70 and also tended to increase neutrophils during the overall period compared with the IM groups. Red blood cell concentrations were greater in calves fed ACMS than in calves fed IM during the overall period. Glucose tolerance test showed that basal glucose concentration and clearance rate (CR) of glucose tended to be lower and higher, respectively, in calves fed ACMS than in calves fed IM. ACMS supplementation increased basal concentrations and also tended to increase maximum insulin concentrations compared with IM supplementation. In addition, calves receiving ACMS starter had greater plasma insulin area under the curve (AUC) and CR compared with calves receiving IM. Feeding ACMS tended to increase the ratio CR of insulin to CR of glucose and increased the AUC of insulin to AUC of glucose compared with feeding IM. Overall, feeding ACMS resulted in a decrease in plasma MDA concentration and an increase in neutrophil concentration, suggesting that ACMS may improve immune function in these calves. A potential insulinotropic effect was noted with ACMS feeding, which was accompanied by an improvement in glucose control rate. This is likely due to higher bioavailability of chelated minerals such as Zn and should be further investigated.