PHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF MAGHRABI CAMELS AS AFFECTED BY ZADO® SUPPLEMENTATION

Abstract

In a completely randomized design, Eighteen growing camel calves at 14 months old 192.42 ± 1.41 kg were allotted to 3 open shaded pens for 115 days from April to July at Camel Studies and Production Development Center, Animal Production Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Giza, Egypt. Growth performance, physiological indicators, hematological parameters, plasma enzymes, and metabolic hormones were measured to evaluate the ZADO ® supplementation effect. The results indicated that camels in G3 recorded the highest values in average daily gain (ADG) and total weight gain (TWG) than the other two groups, which were 910, 804, and 628g and 104.7, 92.5, and 72.3 kg for G3, G2, and G1 respectively. Regarding Hb and Ht, G3 was the highest then G2 and followed by G1 was the lowest. Furthermore, blood metabolites such as total protein, albumin, globulin, and glucose increased significantly than the control. In addition, metabolic hormones had significant differences where G3 was the highest.Plasma liver enzymes ALT and AST values were highly significant ( P <0.05) in treated groups more than control. Lipids values (total lipids, triglycerides, and total cholesterol), blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine were lower in G3 than in G2 and G1. Metabolic hormones IGF1 and T3 were significantly higher in G3 than in the other two groups, Also T4 took the same trend but the differences were non-significant Finally, it may be concluded that feeding Maghrabi camel calves on diet supplemented with ZADO ® are performed better than those un-supplemented. Moreover, the best level of supplement is 40g/h/d.