Honors Theses and Capstones

Date of Award

Spring 2026

Project Type

Senior Honors Thesis

College or School

COLSA

Department

Agriculture, Nutrition, and Food Systems

Program or Major

Animal Science

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

First Advisor

Peter Erickson

Abstract

Objective: This preference study was conducted to evaluate the palatability of crab shell meal (CM) and lobster shell meal (LM) when added to calf starter for post-weaned dairy heifer calves.

Materials and methods: Six calves were used for a sequential elimination experiment to rank their taste preferences when offered control calf starter, calf starter mixed with 50 g of CM, and calf starter mixed with 50 g of LM.  The calves were kept on the study for a total of 5-d split into two feeding segments.  Preference was determined by calculating the total intake of each treatment each day.  The first segment, calves were offered all three treatments, and the last segment their first preference treatment (treatment with the highest total intake) was removed.  Samples of the refusals for each treatment were collected and dried for 48 hr at 60°C. A nutrient analysis was conducted on samples of the calf starter, CM, and LM.

Results and discussion: The results indicated that most calves preferred the control treatment over CM and LM treatments, and CM was preferred over LM.  Despite this, DMI was minorly affected when the calves’ first preference was taken away.  This indicates that CM is palatable enough for calves to consume it at low enough concentrations without majorly affecting DMI.

Implications and applications: Crab shell meal can be potentially utilized in cattle diets to support production while reducing costs and waste.  More research needs to be done to determine the concentration range of CM that cattle will tolerate in feed.

Comments

This manuscript is the authors' original preprint version.

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