Effect of customized mineral supplement on serum mineral profile, immunity, milk yield and reproductive performance of crossbred cattle

Abstract

This study was carried out to ascertain the effect of customized mineral supplement on the production and reproduction performance of crossbred cattle. Twenty-three lactating cows (about 30-60d post calving) at city gaushala, Bareilly, were selected for the on-farm trial. The concentrate mixture was fortified with customized mineral supplement @ 2 kg per 100 kg concentrate.The amount of concentrate mixture and basal roughages (wheat/paddy straw) were provided as per the gaushala practices. The on-farm trial continued for 60 days during which daily milk yield and milk composition were measured. In another experiment problematic cows and heifers (n=35) at city gaushala, Bareilly, were selected to assess the efficacy of customized supplement on the reproductive performance for 90 days duration. Daily milk yield, 4% FCM and ECM and total milk yield (kg) during 60 days of lactation period did not differ significantly (P>0.05) subsequent customized mineral supplementation, however, an improvement of 11.24% was observed in daily milk yield. The milk composition, daily fat and protein yield were parallel. Supplementation of customized mineral supplement substantially improved the conception rate in heifers and cows. The animals exhibited oestrus (heat) following 63.7 + 6.46 days of feeding and were inseminate, however, 20% of the animals did not show any symptom of heat. The mean body condition score (BCS) values were found to be significantly (P<0.01) higher after 30 days feeding. The serum Ca, i-P, Zn, Cu and Mn levels were significantly (P<0.01) increased following mineral supplementation. The lymphocyte proliferation induced by PHAp (CMI) assessed in terms of stimulation index (SI) was significantly (P<0.01) higher post mineral supplementation. It may be deduced that customized mineral supplement apparently improved the productive and reproductive performance of crossbred cattle.