earticle

영어

today's dairy production management systems, reproductive efficiency affects the income of any farm by influencing overall milk production, genetic gain, amount of replacement heifers, and wise cullling decisions. Nutrition, management, and genetics play a major role achieving this maximum herd-reproductive performance. Several reports using trace minerals on the diet of cattle have shown reproductive effects. The main justification for using blocks, to provide deficient nutrients is, therefore, their convenience for packaging, storage, transport and ease of feeding. Dairy cattle are annually exposed to prolonged periods of elevated humidity and heat which reduce feed intake and reproductive performance. The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of mineral on reproductive performance of dairy cows during Summer. The experimental group of cows had access ad libitum to the mineral lick in the following composition : Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu, I, Co, Se. Environmental heat load was described using the THI (temperature humidity index) because thermoregulation in cows is affected by both Temp and RH. The THI was calculated: THI=(0.8×Temp)+[RH×(Temp— 14.4)]+ 46.4. All cows were monitored for estrus twice daily in the morning and late afternoon. And any animal found in estrus was artificially inseminated. Pregnancy diagnosis was performed via ultrasonography at 45 to 70 d after insemination. The visitation and intake of mineral were higher with the maximum THI. The mean intake of mineral block was 23.1 kg in Summer and 17.7 kg in other seasons. The reproductive performance was considerably improved by mineral supplementation. The factors influencing consumption of mineral mixtures include: soil fertility and forage type, available energy and protein, individual requirements, salt content of the water, palatability of mineral mixture, availability of fresh minerals and physical form of minerals. These results show that minerals have a great impact on animal's reproductive physiology.