Relationship of Growth Rates to Prenatal Micronutrient Supplementation in Replacement Heifers

Abstract

In accordance with the developmental origins of health and disease (DoHaD) hypotheses, the intrauterine fetal growth environments have a long-term effect on postnatal growth and health of animals. The objective of the study was to reveal the relationship between the fetal micronutrient supplementation during the third trimester of prenatal development and its growth rates during the first 180 days after birth. The surveys were performed with 40 clinically healthy Simmental heifers. Samples of unpigmented tail switch hair were collected from the newborns before receiving colostrum for their first feed. The micronutrient contents (selenium, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, iron, chromium, and molybdenum) were analyzed with the inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry method (Nexion 300D, Perkin Elmer, United States). The heifer weight was measured on day 1 and at 180 days of age. Afterwards, its average daily weight gain was estimated. Relationships between the study variables were revealed with the Spearman’s rank correlation test with IBM SPSS Statistics 20.0 software (IBM Corp., United States). No significant correlation between the weight of newborn calves and the micronutrient content in their hair samples was found. However, the weight of heifers at 180 days of age and their average daily weight gain (during the first 180 days of life) correlated with the contents of selenium (r = 0.349 and r = 0.408, p < 0.05, respectively), copper (r = 0.378 and r = 0.440, p < 0.01, respectively), zinc (r = 0.455 and r = 0.481, p < 0.01, respectively), and cobalt (r = 0.304 and r = 0.344, p < 0.05, respectively) in the newborn hair samples. No correlations between the heifer parameters indicated above and the manganese, iron, chrome, and molybdenum contents in tail hair were revealed.