1Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab, India
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana-141 004, Punjab, India
*Corresponding author's e-mail: mandeep.bank@gmail.com
Online published on 13 March, 2018.
In total, 15 Beetal bucks having an average age of 893.53± 52.91 days weighing 50.21 ± 1.75 kg were randomly distributed into three groups to assess the effect of zinc supplementation on faecal oocyst load under stall-fed conditions. Bucks under treatment groups were supplemented with either organic (T1) or inorganic (T2) Zn formulated ration to get Zn concentration of 50 mg per kg DM against negative control (T0) on basal diet with no additional Zn supplementation for a period of 120 days. Zn supplementation improved plasma Zn and maintained higher live body weight (kg) in T1 and T 2 against the control. Bucks in T 1 and T 2 shed significantly (p# 0.05) less oocysts in 1 g of faeces (22.8 and 24.1%, respectively) compared to the control (53.1%) without any clinical symptoms. It was therefore, concluded that supplementation of Zn can improve performance of Beetal bucks under stall-fed by reducing the subclinical coccidiosis.
Beetal-bucks, Body-weight, OPG, Plasma-zinc, Stall-fed, Zinc
