Effect of Different Sources of Supplemental Zinc on Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Lambs.

Effect of Different Sources of Supplemental Zinc on Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Lambs. Biol Trace Elem Res. 2018 Jul 21;: Authors: Alimohamady R, Aliarabi H, Bruckmaier RM, Christensen RG Abstract Zinc (Zn) is an essential element in the growth of all animals and plays structural and catalytic roles in many enzymes and functional proteins. Two completely randomized trials were conducted to evaluate the effects of different sources of zinc on performance, nutrient digestibility, blood mineral profile, and antioxidant enzyme activities in male growing lambs on a barley-based diet. The first trial was conducted for 70 days and consisted of 30 lambs (30.8 ± 2.8 kg mean body weight, 4-5 months of age) which were randomly allocated to five treatments consisting of a basal diet (19.72 mg Zn/kg DM), or the basal diet supplemented with 30 mg Zn/kg DM, added as either zinc-sulfate (ZnSulf; inorganic), zinc-methionine (ZnMet), zinc-proteinate (ZnProt) or zinc-glycinate (ZnGly). For the second trial, to measure the effects of dietary Zn on nutrient digestibility, four lambs from each group of the first experiment were randomly allocated to individual digestibility cages for 12 days (first 7 days as an adaptation period followed by 5 days of sample collection). Among the groups, dietary Zn supplementation above basal level significantly improved average daily gain, average daily feed inta...
Source: Biological Trace Element Research - Category: Biology Authors: Tags: Biol Trace Elem Res Source Type: research