Comparative blood bio-chemical profile of dairy cattle in three different regions of Uttaranchal

Abstract

Metabolic profile of dairy cattle maintained under farm 1 (R-l, n=65), farm 2 (R-2, n=70) and nomadic dairy herd of Dehradun h1lls .(R-3, n=65) regions of Uttaranchal state, were studied involving serum biochemical and enzymatic parameters. Animals under first 2 regions were stall fed with dry or green fodder supplemented with concentrate, whereas, third herd was totally thriving on grazing. Decreasing trend of nonsignificant nature was recorded in overall mean serum glucose, protein, albumin, cholesterol and urea concentrations with highest level in R-I, followed by R-2 and R-3. These changes reflected dietary status and relative utilization of energy and nitrogen by these cattle. Glucose was significantly lower (55.2±2.14 mg/dl) in grazing pubertal heifers, and higher in early lactation cows of all the regions. Serum protein concentration showed variable trend but characteristically higher (P~O.05) albumin concentrations were recorded in most categories of R-l, indicating greater reliability of these parameters towards nitrogen retention in dairy cattle. Serum cholesterol levels also paralleled to glucose and albumin whereas urea concentration exhibited variations of much lower magnitude. Significantly higher serum alkaline phosphatase activity was recorded in young calves of all 3 regions with respective values of27J.4±15.59, 280.0±7.84 and 301.4±17.81 U/1. No such trend was visible for various other categories and also for transaminase activities. The data suggested applicability of serum glucose, albumin and cholesterol concentrations for assessing nutritional status of dairy cattle.