Effect of organic zinc and copper supplementation on growth performance, nutrient utilization and minerals balance in harnali lambs Tewatia B.S.*, Jyotsana, Singh Anuj, Meetu, Panwar V.S., Maan N.S. Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Sciences, Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar *Correspondence: bstewatia44@gmail.com
Online published on 22 August, 2023. 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 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 frominorganic sources (ZnSO4 and CuSO4) while zinc methionate and copper methionate served as source of Zn and Cu in mineral mixture of group-II. Feeding trial lasted for a period of180days.Bodyweight changesofanimalswererecorded atfortnightlyintervals.Atthe 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 66.7 and 61.6 in group-I, respectively and 68.5 and 63.2 in group-II, respectively and there was significant (P<0.05) difference between the two groups. Feacal-N as well as urinary-N value and Nbalance did not vary significantly between the groups. Intake of TDN was 919.6 and 968.0 g/day in group -I and II, respectively and it was significantly (P<0.05) higher in group - II. Significant (P<0.05) difference in average body weight gain was observed between groups. Feed efficiency in terms of kg DM/kg gain was 13.0 and 11.9 in group-I and II, respectively. Results of the study showed that organic source of Zn and Cu improved their respective absorption by 38 and 34.5% and also improved digestibility of nutrients and growth performance of lambs. Top Keywords Copper, Growth performance, Lambs, Mineral, Organic zinc. Top |