Effects of milk fortification with an advanced chelated trace minerals supplement on growth, health, and nutrient digestibility in dairy calves

Objective Recent advancements in chelate compound technology offer improved bioavailability of trace minerals, potentially enhancing growth performance and reducing disease incidence. Milk fortification is an efficient method to supplement young calves before transition to solid feed. This study evaluated the response of dairy calves to milk fortification with an advanced chelated trace minerals supplement containing Zn, Mn, Cu, Fe, Co, Cr, and Se, each selected for their specific roles in calf development, synthesized using chelate compoundtechnology. Methods Forty-two Holstein dairy calves (21 males and 21 females) were randomly assigned to three experimental groups: control (CON, unfortified milk), chelated minerals (BON, milk fortified with chelated trace minerals), and inorganic minerals (IOR, milk fortified with inorganic trace minerals). Calves received their respective milk treatments daily from d 3 until weaning at 70 d of age. Growth performance and body measurements were assessed throughout the experiment, while rectal temperature, fecal consistency, and frequency of medical treatment were recorded until d 21. Blood metabolites and nutrient digestibility were also determined. Results BON supplementation resulted in 9% body weight increase (p = 0.027) and improved some body measurements (p<0.05). The calves in BON group showed a lower fecal consistency index (p<0.05) and required fewer medical treatments compared to CON and IOR (p = 0.103). Blood analysis revealed 27% reduction in globulin levels (p = 0.022), 10% increase in albumin levels (p = 0.023) and a 42% elevation in albumin/globulin ratio (p = 0.042) in BON compared to the CON groups. The activities of liver enzymes were higher in IOR than in the BON and CON group. Conclusion Milk fortification with advanced chelated trace minerals significantly enhanced growth performance and health indicators in dairy calves, while inorganic sources showed no beneficial effects. These findings establish the superiority of chelated mineral supplementation for early-life dairy calf development;nevertheless, appropriate supplementation procedures require additional experiments.