Influence of Cation-Anion Balance on Feed Intake, Body Weight Gain, and Humoral Response of Dairy Calves

¹ Department of Animal Science, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40546

The objective of this study was to examine the influence of diets with varying cation-anion balance on performance and humoral responses in young, growing dairy calves, Twenty-eight Holstein and 4 Jersey female calves were blocked at 56 to 70 d after birth according to breed and age and assigned randomly to dietary treatments of 0, 21, 37, and 52 meq(Na + K) – Cl/100 g of dietary DM. Diets were based on cracked corn, dried brewers grains, and oats and were fed for 8 wk. Feed intake and average daily gain tended to increase quadratically, being highest for calves fed the +37-meq diet and lowest for those fed the 0-meq diet. Blood and urine pH increased linearly with increasing dietary cation-anion balance. Plasma Ca increased linearly, and Mg and Cl decreased linearly with increasing cation-anion balance. Plasma Na and P were unaffected by dietary treatments. Urinary Ca, Mg, and Cl excretions decreased linearly; urinary P, Na, and K excretion increased linearly with increasing dietary cation-anion balance. Blood pH increased linearly with increasing dietary cation-anion balance. Blood partial pressure of CO₂, and HCO₃ increased concurrently with increasing dietary cation-anion balance. Results indicate that altering cation-anion balance may impact DMI and average daily gain in the young ruminant.

Key Words: minerals • cation-anion balance • dairy calves

Submitted on May 28, 1991
Accepted on December 6, 1991