Influence of Dietary Vanadium Supplementation on Nutrient Utilisation, Growth Performance and Blood Biochemical Parameters in Sahiwal Calves

An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of dietary vanadium supplementation on feed intake, efficiency of nutrient utilization, growth performance, blood biochemical constituents and endocrine status in male Sahiwal calves. The vanadium concentration in some common feed ingredients was also estimated. Twenty male Sahiwal calves were randomly selected and divided on body weight (71 +/- 8.06 kg) and age (6 +/- 0.82 months) equalization into 4 different groups (n = 5). The treatments were given with 0, 2, 4 and 8 ppm of vanadium in GP-I, GP-II, GP-III and GP-IV, respectively for a duration of hundred and twenty days and subjected to analysis of variance in completely randomized design (CRD). Green fodder and deoiled seed cakes were found rich in vanadium content than grains and by-products. The dietary supplementation of vanadium did not affect the feed intake, digestibility of nutrients, average daily gain and feed efficiency. Plasma glucose level was increased (p <0.05) in GP-III and GP-1V without (p>0.05) affecting insulin level. The total protein, AST and ALT were unaffected by V supplementation. GP-IV showed higher (p <0.05) IGF-1 levels, whereas GP-III and GP-1V recorded higher (p < 0.05) ALP activity in comparison to GP-I (control) and GP-II. The level of triglycerides decreased in a dose dependent way, however, the cholesterol concentration showed a declining (p < 0.05) trend with the increasing vanadium concentration in the diet. It may be concluded that the dietary vanadium supplementation elicits the metabolic profile specially glucose and lipid metabolism of growing calves which in turn may have implications on further growth performance.