Effect of Organic Zinc and Copper Supplementation On Growth Performance, Nutrient Utilization and Minerals Balance in Harnali Lambs

Abstract

To assess the comparative efficacy of inorganic and organic sources of minerals, an experiment was conducted on sixteen Harnali male lambs randomly divided into two groups of 8 animals each. All the lambs were maintained on basal ration comprising of green fodder, gram straw and concentrate mixture. The mineral mixture of group-I had Zn and Cu from inorganic sources (ZnSO₄ and CuSO₄) while zinc methionate and copper methionate served as source of Zn and Cu in mineral mixture of group-II.  Feeding continued for a period of 180 days. Body weight changes of animals were recorded fortnightly. At the end of the feeding trial, a metabolism trial of 5 days duration was conducted to evaluate the effect of organic zinc and copper on nutrients digestion and balance of nutrients. Total DM intake and digestibility of dry matter did not vary significantly between the groups. Digestibility of organic matter and crude fibre was 66.75 and 61.68 in group-I and 68.56 and 63.20, group–II and these were significantly (P<0.05) higher in group – II. Feacal-N as well as urinary-N value and N-balance did not vary significantly between the groups. Intake of TDN was 919.6 and 968.0 g/day in group - I and group - II, respectively and it was significantly higher in group – II. Significantly (P< 0.05) higher average body weight gain was observed between groups. Feed efficiency in terms of kg DM/kg gain was 13.01 and 11.90 in group-I and group-II, respectively. Results of the study showed that organic source of Zn and Cu improved their respective absorption by 38 and 34.5%, improved digestibility of nutrients and improved growth of lambs.