Association between Chelated Mineral Supplementation on Production and Reproduction Performance of Lactating Cows receiving low Green Fodder

Abstract

To assess the effect of chelated mineral supplementation on cow performance, twenty milking cows at eight days of lactation were allocated based on Randomized Block Design into two groups: control (T₀; n = 7) and treatment (T₁; n = 13). Cows were fed as per the farmer's practice with concentrate, wheat straw and green fodder. In addition, cows in the T₁ group were supplied with a chelated mineral mixture @ 65 g/day/animal for 188 days, while cows in the T₀ group were not provided with a chelated mineral mixture. No significant difference (P >0.05) was observed in the body weight of both groups.Higher (P<0.05) total dry matter intake was observed in treatment group. Overall mean values of milk yield, fat, fat-corrected milk, total solids, fat yield and lactose were higher (P<0.05) in treatment group. Two cows (28.57%) of control and eleven cows (84.61%) of treatment showed postpartum oestrous within the three months. Pregnancy rate in treatment (53.84%) was higher than in control (28.57%). Therefore, it can be concluded that chelated mineral supplementation improves the production and reproduction performance of cows receiving low-green fodder.