Abstract
Ninety-six Dutch red and white male veal calves were used in a 19-week feeding trial with 5 diets differing in dietary electrolyte balance (dEB = Na + K - Cl). These dEBs were 6.4, 15.7, 25.0, 34.4 and 43.8 meq 100 g −1 of feed for Diets 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. These balances were achieved by adding NH 4Cl (1.0 or 0.5%) or sodium citrate dihydrate (2.51 or 1.75%) to a milk replacer. With Diets 2, 3 and 4 the growth rate and the feed conversion ratio were not significantly different ( P > 0.05). Compared to the mean results obtained with the 3 other diets, the low-dEB (1) and the high-dEB (5) diets caused a mean reduction of 8% in live weight gain and a mean increase of 5% in feed conversion ratio. There were no significant differences ( P > 0.05) among treatments in carcass classification characteristics. The pH, bicarbonate level, pCO 2 and base excess of the blood were significantly decreased, while the blood chloride level was increased ( P < 0.05) in animals which received Diet 1. The haemoglobin, sodium and potassium levels and the haematocrit value of the blood were not affected by dEB. There were no differences ( P > 0.05) in the blood parameters between animals fed Diets 2, 3, 4 or 5.
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