EFFECT OF BREED AND SAMPLING PLACE ON THE MINERAL CONTENT OF CATTLE HAIR

摘要

Mineral intake is important for high production level. Estimation of exact mineral intake is difficult in grazing and/or group housed animals like cattle. Accessing of long term mineral status seems to be possible using hair mineral analyses. However, several factors can affect the results. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test the effect of sampling location and breed on the mineral content of beef cows’ hair fed the same feeding regime. Ten Hungarian Simmental and ten Charolais cow were selected from the same farm. Coloured hair samples free of visible contamination were obtained from the withers, side and quarter of the cows. Hungarian Simmental samples were used to test the effect of sampling location. Since it did not show significant effect, Charolais samples were analysed as pooled. Samples were mineralized using nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide using ultrasonic cleaning unit. Calcium, magnesium, sodium, copper, selenium and zinc content were determined by ICP-OES (Perkin-Elmer, Optima 3300 DV). Statistical analyses were carried out by SAS (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC) GLM procedure. Significant breed differences were detected in the case of calcium, magnesium and copper. The measured values were above or around the normal ranges, suggesting that the mineral status of the herd was adequate. Sampling location of short hairs had no influence on the mineral profile.