Chelated mineral supplementation in lactating sahiwal cows: effects on performance, biochemical attributes, immune and antioxidant status

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of chelated mineral mixtures supplementation on the performance, nutrients utilization, biochemical attributes, and immune response and antioxidant status in lactating cows. Eighteen lactating Sahiwal cows were randomly allocated into three groups (n=6) in a randomized block design. Cows fed on basal diet without chelated mineral mixture supplement was kept as control (MM₀), whereas; cows in other groups were supplemented with inorganic mineral mixture-1 (inorganic-MM₁) and 2 (Chelated-MM₂), respectively, with dose rate of 30 g/cow/day. Basal diet offered as total mixed ration (TMR) to experimental groups contained concentrate mixture, berseem fodder and wheat straw in the proportion of 40:30:30. Body weight (BW) and dry matter intake (DMI) was recorded fortnightly while blood parameters were measured at monthly intervals. Towards the end of the experimental period, a digestion trial of 7 days collection period was conducted. DMI, BW gain and apparent nutrient digestibility were similar among all the groups. Apparrent digestibility of crude protein (CP) was significantly (P<0.05) higher in the cows of both the mineral mixture supplemented groups. There was no effect of treatment on haematological and biochemical attributes. Plasma calcium (Ca) concentration and total antioxidant status (TAS) were significantly higher (P<0.05) while level of plasma phosphorous (P) and total immunoglobulin (TIg) were lower (P<0.05) in both mineral mixture supplemented cows. Treatment did not exert any effect on milk yield and milk composition. Findings of the present study revealed that the dietary supplementation of chelated mineral mixture improves utilization of Ca and protein without any adverse effect on other attributes.