Vet World   Vol.10   December-2017  Article-1

Effect of feed supplement and additives on stress mitigation in Karan Fries heifers

Background and Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of protected fat plus yeast, niacin, zinc, and chromium dietary supplementation on the reduction of heat stress in Karan Fries (KF) heifers during hot humid months.

Materials and Methods: The basal ration for both the control and treatment groups was the same, containing maize as green fodder and concentrate mixture. However, the treatment group was supplemented with protected fat (2.5% of dry matter intake [DMI]), yeast (10 g/animal/day), niacin (6 g/animal/day), zinc (40 mg/kg DMI), and chromium (1.5 mg/kg DMI).

Results: The overall mean value of afternoon rectal temperature for control and treatment group was 103.17±0.09 and 102.72±0.10°F, respectively, and was significantly (p<0.01) lower in the treatment group. The overall mean value of afternoon respiration rate for control and treatment group was 76.35±0.56 and 73.13±0.58 breaths/min, respectively, and was also significantly (p<0.01) lower in the treatment group. The overall mean value of afternoon pulse rate for control and treatment group was 97.09±0.63 and 94.67±0.67 beats/minute, respectively, and was also significantly (p<0.01) lower in the treatment group. Finally, the mean cortisol concentration for control and treatment group was 3.94±0.05 ng/ml and 3.70±0.06 ng/ml, respectively, and was significantly (p<0.01) lower in the treatment group.

Conclusion: The present study shows that supplementation with the above feed additives could serve as a heat stress abatement strategy in growing KF heifers during extreme conditions in summer months. Keywords: feed supplement, heat stress, hot humid, Karan Fries.

Keywords: feed supplement, heat stress, hot humid, Karan Fries.

How to cite this article: Purwar V, Oberoi PS, Dang AK (2017) Effect of feed supplement and additives on stress mitigation in Karan Fries heifers. Veterinary World, 10(12): 1407-1412.

Received: 06-07-2017  Accepted: 30-10-2017     Published online: 01-12-2017

Corresponding author: Vaibhav Purwar   E-mail: vaibhav1690purwar@gmail.com

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.1407-1412

Copyright: Purwar, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.