Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Astragaloside IV on Growth performance, Inflammatory, and Antioxidant Status of Holstein Male Calves

Holstein male calves were selected to study the effects of supplementing diets with Astragaloside IV (ASIV) on growth performance, inflammatory, and antioxidant functions. The calves were assigned to four treatment groups with six calves each in a completely randomized design. The calvels were fed diets in which different amounts of ASIV were provided (0, 15, 30, or 60 mg/d per calf). The experimental period consisted of 7 days of adaptation followed by 120 days of data collection. Calves were fed 6 L/ day of milk replacer from 7-60 days, weaned at 60 days, and offered water, starter, and Chinese wildrye ad libitum for the whole trial period. The total dry matter intake of calves were similar among treatments, whereas the final body weight at 120 days (P = 0.084) and average daily gain (P = 0.025) increased with increased ASIV. There were no significant differences among treatments on body measurement indexes. Serum blood urea nitrogen levels decreased (P = 0.028) and glucose levels increased (P = 0.029) with increasing ASIV. The average concentrations of CAT (P = 0.0005), GSH-Px (P < 0.0001), and T-SOD (P = 0.013) increased, and MDA (P = 0.006) decreased with increased feeding amount of ASIV. Furthermore, concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-alpha were not affected by treatments (P >0.05). In conclusion, ASIV improved the growth performance and antioxidant function of calves in a concentrationdependent manner. To further study the mechanisms underlying the action of ASIV to improve antioxidant functionality and immune level in vitro experiments should be explored.