Abstract
The effect of two levels of dietary iron (Fe) in presence of three levels of sulphur (S) on Cu status and performance of growing lambs was examined using 37 weaned Texel-cross over the period of 12 weeks. The basal diet (L:L) contained no Fe or S supplement; H:M diet supplemented with 800 mg Fe/kg DM and 1.5 g S/kg DM, and H:H diet was supplemented with 800 mg Fe/kg DM and 3.5 g S/kg DM. The concentrate diet was based on dried grass nuts and barely designed for lambs to grow at the rate of 200 g d-1. The results revealed that dietary treatments had no effects on DMI, DWG, final weight, total weight gain, and FCE of lambs. The lambs fed L:L diet trended (P=0.057) to have a higher plasma Cu concentrations (12.11 µmol l-1) than those fed H:M (10.78 µmol l-1) or H:H (10.38 µmol/l) diets at week 12. Dietary treatments had no effect on hepatic Cu, Mn, Mo, and Zn concentration at week 12. However, the lambs fed H:M or H:H had higher hepatic Fe (P=0.05) concentrations than those fed L:L diet. In conclusion, supplemental Fe and S had no effects on lamb performance, but decreased plasma Cu concentrations and increased plasma Mo concentrations of growing lambs. Supplemental Fe and S reduced hepatic Cu concentration of lambs compared with those fed no Fe and S supplements but the difference lacked significance.
Highlights
Copper (Cu) absorption is considerably lower in ruminants, especially in sheep, than in simple stomach animals [41, 36], which is mainly due to the complex interactions that occur in the functional rumen between Cu, sulphur (S), molybdenum (Mo) and iron (Fe) [24, 14]
Copper as an essential micromineral is a part of many important proteins such as ceruloplasmin which is essential for absorption and transport of Fe required for haemoglobin synthesis
Copper is important in the structure of many enzymes including cytochrome oxidase, lysyl oxidase, tyrosinase and superoxide dismutase which are necessary for electron transport during aerobic respiration, catalyses formation of desmosine cross‐links in collagen and elastin that is necessary for strong bone and connective tissues; production of melanin pigment from tyrosine; protection of cells from the toxic effects of oxygen metabolites and is important in phagocytic cell function, respectively [41, 10, 22]
Summary
Copper (Cu) absorption is considerably lower in ruminants, especially in sheep, than in simple stomach animals [41, 36], which is mainly due to the complex interactions that occur in the functional rumen between Cu, sulphur (S), molybdenum (Mo) and iron (Fe) [24, 14]. In Iraq few studies have been done on the concentration of heavy metals in the blood of sheep, goat, and cows [25] or the effect of blood parasite type on production of Awassi sheep [42]. Due to the lack of information about the effect of dietary Fe with S on Cu status of sheep and to fill the gap the current experiment was conducted to investigate and enhance the knowledge behind the antagonistic effect of Fe and S on liver Cu status and performance of growing sheep
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