Authors : T.O.Bawala , O.A. Isah and A.O. Akinsoyinu
Abstract: A study was conducted to examine the efficacy of dietary mineral supplementation (CaPO4 and MgSO4. 7H2O) on the milk mineral (Ca, P, Mg and K) content of the West African dwarf, WAD, goats. Eighteen monoparous lactating WAD does were utilized for feeding trial in a 12-week lactation period in which the does were randomly assigned to one of the three dietary treatment groups (A, B, C) of six animals in a completely randomized design. The three isonitrogenous (15% CP) and isocaloric (2.34 Mcal ME) supplementary diets fed to a based diet of Panicum maximum grass contained graded levels (%) 0, 1 and 2 of Ca/P and Mg supplementations in diets A, B and C respectively. Results showed that treatment effects on dry matter intake, DMT (kg day-1), body weight (Bw) gain (g day -1) circulating levels (mg dL-1) of Ca, P, Mg and K in serum and milk of WAD does were significant (p<0.05). Similar effect on milk yield was highly significant (p<0.01). The mean values (mg dL-1) of circulating levels of CA, P, Mg and K in serum of WAD does on diets A, B and C were: Ca 9.75, 10.00 and 10.13, P 7.15, 7.57 and 7.79; Mg 3.20, 3.52 and 4.54 and K (mmolL-1) 3.53, 3.83 and 3.77, respectively; while corresponding values (mgdl-1) in milk were Ca 121.0, 127.0 and 132.0; P 84.5, 89.78 and 94.08; Mg 18.90, 41.82 and 47.61; and K 158.43, 165.03 and 160.58. The general trend was that increasing dietary mineral supplementation effected a concomitant increase in milk mineral (Ca, P, Mg and K) outputs. Significant positive correlations (r = 0.99, 0.97, 0.73 and 0.85) existed between serum and milk Ca, P, Mg and K contents respectively suggesting that blood is a secondary source of milk mineral secretion in lactating animals.
T.O.Bawala , O.A. Isah and A.O. Akinsoyinu , 2006. Studies on Milk Mineral Composition of Lactating West African Dwarf Goats. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 5: 805-809.