Growth Performance and Nutrient Utilization in Transition Sahiwal Calves Supplemented with Chromium, Zinc and Magnesium
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Authors
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Srishtipriya Prasad
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Muneendra kumar
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Vinod Kumar
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Raju Kushwaha
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Shalini Vaswani
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Avinash Kumar
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P K. Shukla
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Sarvjeet Yadav
Keywords:
Calves, Growth performance, Nutrients utilization, Mineral absorption, Transition periodAbstract
Minerals are essential for growth and reproduction and are involved in a large number of digestive, physiological and biosynthetic processes within the body. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of dietary supplementation of chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn) and magnesium (Mg) on the growth performance and nutrients utilization of calves during transition period. A total of 24 Sahiwal calves were randomly allocated into four groups (having six calves in each group) and fed for a transition period of 120 days (15 days of calf age to 135 days of calf age). Experimental calves either received a basal (devoid of supplemental Cr, Zn and Mg as control group) or supplemented with 0.15 mg Cr picolinate/kg BW0.75, 80 mg Zn/calf/day and 1.5 g Mg/calf/day. Experimental calves were monitored daily for feed intake and fortnightly for growth performance. At the end of the study, a digestion trial with 7 days collection period was conducted to study the effect of different treatments on nutrients utilization and mineral absorption. Results indicated that dietary Cr, Zn and Mg supplementation did not exert any effect on growth performance, dry matter intake (DMI), feed intake to gain ratio and apparent nutrient digestibility. However, the absorption of Cr, Zn and Mg was significantly (P<0.05) greater in its respective supplemented group. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of Cr, Zn, or Mg in Sahiwal calves during transition period did not influence growth performance, feed intake or nutrient digestibility but selectively enhanced mineral absorption.
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