Effect of Mineral Supplementation on Reproductive Performance of Anestrous Buffaloes Under Field Conditions

A survey on the feeding practices of buffaloes in a village in Hisar district revealed that more than 80 percent of the lactating buffaloes were in short supply of essential minerals like calcium, phosphorus, zinc and manganese as indicated by the analysis of samples of feeds and fodders, collected from the village. These rations were deficient in calcium and phosphorus to the extent of 30–40 percent and zinc, manganese and copper to the extent of 50 percent. Lower contents of Zn (18–42 ppm), Mn (12–18 ppm) and Cu (3–10 ppm) in all the feed ingredients like wheat, bajra, cottonseed cake and wheat straw fed to these animals is leading to a problem of long anestrous periods In buffaloes by 70 percent. In phase II supplementation of mineral mixture @ 50 g/animal/day to about 100 such animals (70 buffaloes and 30 adult heifers of more than 3 year age showing anestrous for more than 5–6 months) showed that more than 70 per cent of these animals came into heat and conceived within a period of 2–4 weeks of giving this mineral mixture clearly indicating the role of mineral supplementation in curing this problem.