Impacts of feeding zinc-methionine or chromium-methionine on performance, antioxidant status and physiological responses to transportation stress on lambs

Abstract

Context Road transportation of farm animals is an unavoidable activity in animal husbandry, which may lead to the stress. Metabolic modifiers, such as minerals, may be an effective strategy to improve the performance and immune system of animals. Aims The present study examined the effects of chromium-methionine (Cr-Met) and zinc-methionine (Zn-Met) supplementation on animal performance and response to transportation stress. Methods Eighteen lambs (18–20 weeks of age) were randomly assigned to the following three dietary treatments for 10 weeks: (1) basal diet (control, 0.021 g/kg Zn and 0.0001 g/kg Cr); (2) basal diet with addition of 10 Cr-Met mg/kg DM (containing 1 mg/kg Cr); and (3) basal diet with addition of 500 Zn-Met mg/kg DM (containing 50 mg/kg Zn). After a 6-week supplementation period, the lambs were transported by road for 3 h. Key results Mineral supplements did not affect final bodyweight, average daily gain or feed conversion ratio. The blood cortisol and aspartate aminotransferase concentrations were increased (P < 0.05) immediately after transportation (AT1) in all groups; however, they were lower in supplemented lambs than in the control (P < 0.05). Animals fed Cr-Met or Zn-Met diets had a higher albumin concentration at AT1 than did the control group (P < 0.05). Lambs on the Zn-Met diet showed a higher blood triiodothyronine and triiodothyronine to thyroxin ratio at AT1 and at 24 h after transportation (AT2) than did lambs receiving the control diet (P < 0.05). Lambs fed the Cr-Met diet had a lower blood malondialdehyde at AT1 and AT2 than did the control lambs (P < 0.05). Total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was higher in the Zn-Met-supplemented group than in other groups (P < 0.05). Supplementation with dietary Zn-Met increased serum TAC concentration in the kidney tissue compared with the control (P < 0.05), but had no effect on superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities. The Cr-Met group showed also a lower malondialdehyde concentration (P < 0.05) and higher TAC, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activities in the liver tissue (P < 0.05). Conclusions Dietary supplementation with 10 mg Cr-Met/kg (1 mg Cr) in comparison to 500 mg Zn-Met/kg (50 mg Zn) improved the stress response of lambs subjected to a short-time road transportation, whereas growth performance was not affected. Implications The administration of Cr-Met or Zn-Met to diet of lambs before transportation could reduce the adverse effects of road transportation stress.

Effect of adding Chromium-Methionine and Zinc-Methionine on production performance and some hormones in the blood of Awassi lambs

“…kg significant at the level (P≤0.05), and by looking at the results, it turns out that the first, second, third and fourth treatments (32.39, 32.39, 33.20, 31.50), respectively, did not show any significant differences between the treatments, and the results of the interaction between, periods and treatments show that the treatment The second (29.58) and the fourth (29.12) decreased significantly at the level (P≤0.05) compared with the control group in the second period. The results agreed with the researcher Soumar et al (2020), as he did not get significant differences between treatments in the final weight characteristic when different levels of Cr-Met and Zn-Met were used. The results also agreed with Sanchez-Mendoza et al (2015) when Cr-Met was used.…”

“…deciliter on the second, third and fourth treatments (0.37, 0.33, 0.97) µg/dL, respectively, and significant differences were found in the interaction between the durations and treatments, as it was significantly superior at the level (P≤0.05) of the first treatment (2.16) µg/dL for the second term over all treatments In the first and second periods, the level of cortisol hormone. These results are in agreement with the results of researcher Soumar et al (2020) in his study on lambs, there was a significant and significant decrease in cortisol concentration at (P<0.05) in the nutrient treatment on Zn-Met supplementation compared with control lambs. The reason could be that the use of Zn-Met supplementation in the diet of lambs led to a decrease in the level of cortisol in the blood of the lambs (Soumar et al, 2020).…”

“…These results are in agreement with the results of researcher Soumar et al (2020) in his study on lambs, there was a significant and significant decrease in cortisol concentration at (P<0.05) in the nutrient treatment on Zn-Met supplementation compared with control lambs. The reason could be that the use of Zn-Met supplementation in the diet of lambs led to a decrease in the level of cortisol in the blood of the lambs (Soumar et al, 2020).…”

“…The results in Table (3) indicate that there were no significant differences between the first and second periods (129.19, 110.17) g, respectively, in the rate of daily weight gain, and the results also did not show any significant differences between the first, second, third and fourth treatments (138.56, 108.03, 131.06 101.06 ) gm, respectively, while the third treatment in the first period (164.99) gm was significantly superior at (P≤0.05) over the second, third and fourth treatments (91.42, 97.14, 99.28) gm, respectively for the second period, and the first and second treatments did not record any significant difference in daily weight gain. These results agreed with researchers Soumar et al (2020) and Sanchez-Mendoza et al (2015) when they used different levels of Cr-Met they found no significant differences between treatments. These results differed with Alimohamady et al (2019) and Jafarpour et al (2015), as they obtained significant differences between treatments when they used Zn-Met at different levels.…”

“…moral differences. These results agreed with Soumar et al (2020) and Sanchez-Mendoza et al (2015) in the amount of feed consumed in comparison with their respective treatments. While the results of this experiment differed with the researcher Jafarpour et al (2015), as he obtained significant differences between the treatments in the amount of feed consumed.…”