EFFICACY OF DIETARY VITAMIN E AND SELENIUM SUPPLEMENTATION IN THE DIET OF PREGNANT BUNAJI COWS ON POSTPARTUM PARAMETERS

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of supplementing dietary vitamin E and selenium on postpartum parameters of pregnant Buanji cows. Twenty pregnant Bunaji cows in the third trimester were used. The animals were grouped into four treatments, with each treatment containing five animals. Treatment I served as the Control: no supplementation of either selenium or vitamin E. Treatment II was supplemented with 3 mg of feed grade selenium. Treatment III was administered 20 mg of feed grade vitamin E. Treatment IV received a combination of 3 mg feed grade selenium and 20 mg of vitamin E. The animals received the treatments once every week during the 3rd trimester of pregnancy until calving. The following parameters; dystocia (ease of calving), days to first return of oestrus and time to ejection of placenta were observed/recorded. Data generated were analysed using the General Linear Model of SAS (2002). Significant means were compared using Dunnett (1964). Dystocia (ease of calving) was not observed in all the treatment groups. Time to ejection of placenta and days to first oestrus postpartum for Bunaji cows were significantly different (P<0.05) with Se + vitamin E supplementation than other treatment groups. It was concluded that vitamin E and selenium was effective in reducing time to ejection of placenta and days to first oestrus postpartum.