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Table 4 Impacts of neonatal vitamin A administration on cattle growth performance

From: Vitamin A administration at birth promotes calf growth and intramuscular fat development in Angus beef cattle

Response

0 IU

(n = 9)

150,000 IU

(n = 7)

300,000 IU

(n = 9)

SE

P-value

Birth to weaning

 Birth weight, kg

35.1

35.6

35.6

0.58

0.932

 Average daily gain, kg/d

0.88b

0.98a

1.00a

0.02

0.034

Backgrounding

 Weaning weight at 210 d, kg

219.2b

248.7ab

246.0a

5.98

0.018

 Dry matter intake, kg/(head·d)

9.09

8.89

9.25

0.39

0.320

 Average daily gain, kg

1.35

1.37

1.47

0.17

0.784

 Gain: Feed ratio, kg

0.149

0.153

0.156

0.031

0.944

Finishing

 Weight at 308 d, kg

312.1b

333.0ab

339.7a

8.65

0.040

 Dry matter intake, kg/(head·d)

8.95

9.45

9.09

0.85

0.829

 Average daily gain, kg

2.06

1.99

1.90

0.17

0.627

 Feed: Gain ratio, kg

4.35

4.76

4.79

0.13

0.219

Pre-harvest

 Actual body weight (438 d), kg

581.8

610.4

588.3

10.97

0.116

  1. a-bMeans in the same row with different letter differ significantly