Effects of Copper Sources and Dietary Cation-Anion Balance on Copper Availability and Acid-Base Status in Dairy Calves

Twenty-four Holstein and Jersey calves (14 Holstein), 4 to 11 d of age, were assigned randomly to six treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement to examine the effects of Cu sources and dietary cation-anion balance on Cu availability and acid-base balance. Treatments were cationic basal diet (20 meq of dietary cation-anion balance on a DM basis), cationic basal diet supplemented with CuO, cationic basal diet supplemented with CuSO4, anionic basal diet (–10 meq), anionic basal diet supplemented with CuO, and anionic basal diet supplemented with CuSO4. Copper sources did not show any effect on growth of calves. The cationic diet increased calf growth compared with the anionic diet at wk 12 of the experiment. Blood pH was increased by the cationic diet in comparison with the anionic diet at wk 8 and 12. Blood pH also was increased by CuSO4 compared with CuO treatment in the early period of the treatment. Blood bicarbonate concentration was decreased by CuO and the anionic diet. Interactions between Cu sources and cation-anion balance were found for blood pH and bicarbonate concentration. Liver Cu concentration was increased by CuSO4 but not by CuO supplementation compared with control. Therefore, CuSO4 was found to be highly available, whereas CuO was a very poorly available source of Cu for young calves.