The objective of this paper was to evaluate the performance of calves fed liquid diets based on integral milk or fermented colostrum, with or without addition of soybean oil, with or without zeranol application, as growth promoter. The calves development was evaluated from 15 to 60 days of age and the studied variables were: body weight (BW), withers height (WH) and heart girth circumference (HGC) at 60th day; solid feed intake (SFI); and weight gain (WG), withers increment (WI) and heart girth increment (HGI) during the experimental period. Forty crossbred Holstein x Zebu calves were used. The experiment was analyzed in a complete randomized design in 2³ factorial outline. The supply of fermented colostrum provided better results for BW and WG, compared to the integral milk, being however similar under the zeranol application. There were no treatment effects on SFI. The addition of soybean oil to the liquid feeds provided better values for HGC and HGI. An interaction was observed between the factors oil and zeranol on the variable WI. The zeranol application provided better development in the animals fed soybean oil added to liquid diets.
fermented colostrum; heart girth circumference; soybean oil; weight gain; withers height; zeranol
