Estratégias alimentares para bezerros bubalinos

Abstract

This study evaluated the productive performance and health of buffalo calves subjected to different feeding management strategies. The study was conducted through two experiments. In the first, the performance of 10 male calves subjected to different levels of milk replacer supply was evaluated in a conventional (4 L/d) and intensive (6 L/d) system. In the second experiment, the use of banana pseudostems and leaves as an ethnoveterinary strategy for diarrhea control in female calves was investigated. In the experiment with different volumes of milk replacer, the animals subjected to intensive management showed an average daily gain (ADG) of 406.89 g/d, while those under conventional management presented an ADG of 311.01 g/d. Despite the numerical difference, there was no statistical difference between the treatments (P > 0.05). Nutritional assessment indicated that the milk replacer formulation met the requirements recommended by NASEM (2021) for weight gains of 400 g/d only when offered under intensive management (6 L/d), while supplying 4 L/d resulted in an estimated 30% deficit in dry matter intake. In the second experiment, the incidence of diarrhea in the experimental group was 15%, in a scenario of high sanitary pressure on the property, which presented an overall incidence of 41% and mortality of 19.6%. Statistical tests (Chi-square, Fisher's exact test, and Mantel-Haenszel) indicated that banana consumption did not significantly reduce the occurrence of the disease (P > 0.05). However, a biological trend (P < 0.10) of greater susceptibility to diarrhea was observed in younger animals (8 to 30 days), which also showed lower ADG (323.56 g/d) compared to animals aged 31 to 60 days (488.75 g/d). It is concluded that, under the evaluated conditions, intensive management demonstrated greater nutritional adequacy, although animal performance was influenced by high individual variability and the observed sanitary challenge. Furthermore, the use of banana as an isolated therapeutic agent did not prove effective in reducing the diarrhea occurrence, reinforcing the importance of adopting integrated sanitary and nutritional management strategies in buffalo calf rearing.