Effect Of Nano Zinc Oxide on Some Behaviour Patterns and Performance in Calves.

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of Nano zinc oxide particles (nZnO) supplementation on growth performance, ingestive and standing idle behaviours, serum zinc level and some haematological parameters in cross bred calves. Ten calves at the farm of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine -Aswan University were randomly selected within an average age of 4 months and weight of (70.3±5.3 kg). Calves were divided equally into two groups, control, and treated groups (n=5) in each group. Each treated calf was administered daily with zinc oxide Nano particles at the rate of (10µg/g ) orally for three months. The results revealed that the used rate of nZnO supplementation had no significant effect on the average daily gain of calves throughout the different periods of experiment. Moreover, the average time spent in ingestive behaviour was significantly higher in control group (18.1±0.3 and 16.8±1.4 min ) than treated group (11±2.1 and 5.7±3 min ) after 2 weeks and 8 weeks respectively. On the other hand, serum zinc level was significantly higher (p<0.05) in the treated group (9.2±0.4 µg/dl) than control group (8.0±0.2 µg/dl) after the 12 th week. There was no significant effect of nZnO supplementation on the other measured hematological parameters. In conclusion, nZnO supplementation may have a little effect on ingestive and standing idle behaviour but it has no pronounced effect on growth performance, serum zinc level and some haematological parameters in calves.