Micronutrient status of dairy cattle maintained by farmers in the New Alluvial Zone of West Bengal Das P., Biswas S., Ghosh T. K.*, Haldar S. Department of Animal Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Science, West Bengal University of Animal & Fishery Sciences, 37, Khudiram Bose Sarani, Kolkata - 700 037, India *Reprint request: Dr. T.K. Ghosh, Tel.: +91-33-5568234; Fax: +91-33-5571986; E-mail: tkghosh46@123india.com
Abstract A survey was conducted in the new alluvial zone of West Bengal to find out the role of feeding practice and farm management system on certain micronutrient status of dairy cattle. Farmers were divided into three categories viz. small, medium and large according to the size of their animal holding and allied economic criteria. Grazing and feeding of paddy straw was common in all the three groups of farmers. Supplementing the animals with single unit concentrate (deoiled rice bran, DORB or mustard cake) or multiple unit concentrate (DORB, mustard cake, gram or mung chuni and wheat bran) was found in the medium and large farmers, respectively. No difference was found in the plasma concentrations of Ca (10.40, 10.27 and 10.24 mg %), P (5.78, 5.66 and 5.56 mg %), Cu (0.94, 0.88 and 0.81 ppm), Fe (3.68, 2.60 and 2.59 ppm) and Zn (1.91, 1.84 and 1.79 ppm) observed in the animals of small, medium and large categories of farmers, respectively. The Ca and P were deficient in paddy straw (0.07–0.17 and 0.01–0.07 mg%, respectively). Ca deficiency was observed in wheat bran (0.09–0.15 mg%) and gram chuni (0.13–0.24 mg%). Fe concentration in all the feeds and fodders was far above the normal critical level. Marginal Cu deficiency in hybrid napier (2.7–3.0 ppm) and that of Zn was observed in para grass (20.0–23.0 ppm) and gram chuni (12.4–16.8 ppm). Other feeds and fodder were found to be fairly rich in these micronutrients which could fulfil the requirements of the animals within the limits of their intake. Top Key words Dairy cattle, Micronutrient, Blood plasma, New Alluvial Zone. Top |