Influence of dietary chromium yeast supplementation on apparent trace elements metabolism in growing camel (Camelus dromedarius) reared under hot summer conditions

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of dietary chromium (Cr) supplementation on the apparent metabolism of some trace elements in camel calves reared under hot summer conditions. The study was conducted on a total of 15 male camel calves (5-6 months old) reared under hot summer conditions for 12 weeks. The animals were housed individually under shelter and divided into three dietary treatment groups (diets supplemented with 0.0, 0.5, or 1.0 mg Cr/kg DM), five animals each. At the end of the study, a metabolic trial was conducted on all camels for the evaluation of trace elements metabolism. Cr excretion, absorption, and retention showed an increasing trend with the increasing level of dietary Cr supplementation. Dietary Cr supplementation at 0.5 mg Cr/kg DM to camel calves resulted in a significant (P < 0.05) increase in Cu and an increasing trend in Zn and Mn excretion via urine and feces. However, Fe retention increased significantly (P < 0.05) in camel calves fed on diet supplemented with Cr. Dietary Cr supplementation to camel calves resulted in an increasing trend of plasma Cr concentration, while plasma concentration of Cu and Zn tended to decrease and without any effect on plasma Fe concentration. The results of the present study suggests that care should be taken for the negative interaction of Cr with the utilization of other trace elements, in cases where Cr is supplemented to the diet as a feed additive to promote growth and immunity under hot climatic conditions.

Camelids: new players in the international animal production context

“…Camels have very interesting physiological and adaptive traits (Gerken 2010; Alhidary et al 2018;Hoter et al 2019). Indeed, Bactrian and dromedary camels are particularly well adapted to arid environments (Wu et al 2014).…”

Effects of dietary chromium-yeast level on growth performance, blood metabolites, meat traits and muscle fatty acids profile, and microminerals content in liver and bone of lambs

“…Although Cr-yeast reduced Fe concentration in liver (from 685.4 for control to an average of 570.0 mg Fe/ kg for Cr-yeast), it was higher than the reference (30-300 mg Fe/kg) values (Puls 1994). Cr has antioxidant and reducing capacity over Fe þ3 , Fe þ2 , this allows for greater absorption and retention of Fe (Kumar et al 2017;Alhidary et al 2018), which may explain the disappearance of Fe in the liver by increasing up to 0.4 mg Cr/kg DM in this experiment. Similarly, Cr-yeast supplementation reduced Cu concentration in liver (from 196 mg Cu/kg with the control treatment to an average of 169 mg Cu/kg with Cryeast), but that reduction was higher than the reference (25-100 mg/kg) values (Puls 1994).…”

“…In agreement with our findings, previous studies found that Cr-yeast supplementation has not effect on Zn concentrations in liver and bone (Anderson 1989;Chang et al 1992;Amatya et al 2004). However, in camel calves supplemented with Cr-yeast (0.5 mg Cr/kg DM) under hot climatic conditions, the plasma concentration of Cr negatively interacts with Cu, Zn and Mn (Alhidary et al 2018).…”