Effect of Mineral Supplementation on the Macromineral Concentration in Blood in Pre- and Postpartum Blackbelly Sheep

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of mineral supplementation on the serum concentration of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium in pre- and postpartum Blackbelly sheep throughout three successive lambing periods under free grazing conditions in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region. The field work was carried out between January 2015 and February 2018 using 20 Blackbelly sheep belonging to the Centre for Research, Postgraduate Studies and Conservation of Amazon Biodiversity, Ecuador. The flock was randomly divided into two groups: Group 1 (G1) was fed with forage plus a supplementation (Pecutrin® Mineral supplement plus vitamins A, D3, and E. Bayer HealthCare) and Group 2 (G2) was fed only with forage without mineral supplementation. Three blood samples from the coccygeal vein were taken from each sheep 30 days before lambing, 30 days after, and 60 days after lambing. Concerning the average of calcium, significant differences were found at different times inside each group and also between them (p < 0.0001 in both cases). As for the phosphorus, significant differences were found between the means of the groups for all times from 30 days after the second lambing season (p < 0.05). It was observed that the groups differed significantly in terms on the average of magnesium (considering a significance level of 0.05) 30 days before the first lambing and at all times measured from the 30 days after the second lambing (p < 0.005). In this study, we showed that Blackbelly sheep raised under free grazing conditions in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region had very low serum calcium values, and supplementation was unable to improve them. Meanwhile, phosphorus and magnesium levels were below the required values, but after supplementation, they exceeded the minimum threshold. Mineral supplementation in the rearing of sheep in grazing systems is necessary during the entire production cycle, but it must be done taking into account the soil–plant–animal relationship specifically for the Amazonian Region systems.

Effects of essential mineral elements deficiency and supplementation on serum mineral elements concentration and biochemical parameters in grazing Mongolian sheep

“…To uniform this study, the serum samples were used to measure both the concentration of the mineral elements and the biochemical parameters. It was found out that the normal serum Ca concentration in junior sheep ranged from 70 mg/L to 80 mg/L ( 3 ). In this research, the mean value of the initial concentration of Ca reached 51.61 mg/L, indicating that the Ca deficiency found in Mongolian Wu Ranke sheep resulted from their long-term pattern of grazing in the grassland.…”

“…Thus, the intake of various nutrients by livestock is closely related to the types and amounts of nutrients provided by the grassland in OPEN ACCESS EDITED BY Fazul Nabi, Lasbela University of Agriculture, Water and Marine Sciences, Pakistan the pasture. However, some research has revealed that pasture is incapable to provide all the nutrients needed for the normal growth and metabolic processes of livestock, especially minerals (3,4). Various mineral elements are required for the metabolism of livestock through various physiological and biochemical processes.…”