The Effect of Feeding Fortified Milk with Organic Iron Supplementation on Performance, Diarrhea Status and Blood Parameters in Suckling Dalagh Lambs

Minerals play important role from initial stages in life of mammals. Iron-amino acid chelate has been used as an oral supplement in animal feed. Based on the present study was conducted to investigate the effect of milk supplemented with organic iron on performance, blood parameters, iron metabolism parameters, biochemical and immunological parameters in suckling lambs.

Thirty-six newborn Dalagh lambs (birth weight, 3.8 ± 0.4 kg) were randomly divided into 3 groups with 12 repetitions. The lambs in control group were fed with milk without organic iron. The other groups were fed with 25 and 50 mg/kg organic iron in milk for 45 days, respectively. The lambs were weighed every 15 days. The amount of feed intake was recorded daily. Lamb feces were collected daily for diarrhea status. Finally, blood samples were taken from the cervical vein of lambs on day 45 to evaluation of blood metabolites.

The results were as follows: In the entire experimental period and from 15 to 30 and 31 to 45 days of age, daily weight and total body weight increased in the groups treated with organic iron compared to the control group (p< 0.05). There was a significant decrease in the number of diarrhea patients and the number of diarrhea days in the patients receiving organic iron (p< 0.05). Organic iron supplementation in suckling lambs showed a significant increase in plasma iron concentration and a significant decrease in plasma copper concentration (p< 0.05). Concentrations of other minerals (calcium, phosphorus and zinc) were not affected by organic iron supplementation in suckling lambs. Also, administration of iron to suckling lambs had no effect on the concentration of blood metabolites (cholesterol, glucose, triglyceride, urea, total protein, albumin and globulin) among the experimental groups.

The results of this study showed that the use of organic iron supplementation improves performance, health and biochemical parameters in suckling lambs.