EFFECTS OF USING CANNABIS OIL (CBD) ON THE METABOLIC PROFILE OF CALVES DURING WEANNING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1199/3ypnqz08Keywords:
weaning stress, dairy calves, cannabis oil, metabolic profileAbstract
Cannabis oil is a product obtained from hemp plants and seeds (Cannabis sativa), with anti-inflammatory, analgesic, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant properties due to its high content of cannabidiol (CBD). The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of CBD on haemato-biochemical profile in dairy calves during weaning. The study was conducted at the Experimental Farm of the Research and Development Institute for Bovine Balotesti, between March-June 2024, using 19 half-sibs Romanian Black and White dairy calves, divided into two groups: the experimental group (E: n=10) and the control group (C: n=9). The experimental group received 5 ml of CBD oil/head/day in the first 2 days of experiment (pre- weaning) and 10 ml CBD oil/head/day for a period of 3 consecutive days post-weaning. Blood samples were collected during the weaning day (T1), at 2 days (T2) and 5 days (T3) post-weaning. Mann-Whitney test was used to evaluate the influence of CBD on the blood parameters. The results showed significant differences for the mean corpuscular volume (MCV: p=0.0164) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH: p=0.0057) in the CBD group compared with the controls at T1, and significant differences for platelets (PLT: p=0.0050) and alanine-aminotransferase (ALT: p=0.0328) in the CBD group compared to the control group at T2. At 5 days post-weaning (T3), the mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH: p=0.0018) differed significantly between calves’ groups. The obtained results suggest that CBD addition in dairy calves’ diets could lead to improvements in the metabolic profile, and as a result, to reducing the negative effects of weaning stress.References
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