FORECASTING THE MICRONUTRIENT CONTENTS IN FETUSES OF DOWN CALVERS

Abstract

It is believed that the level of nutrition and maternal tissue depots determine the intrauterine supply of micronutrients necessary for the normal formation and development of fetuses in large cattle. Disturbances in micronutrient nutrition negatively affect the fetus's health and, after birth, limit its growth and predispose it to a range of somatic diseases. Therefore, forecasting and timely correction of micronutrient deficiencies in the fetuses of large cattle is important in veterinary science. In this study, the authors attempted for the first time to forecast the accumulation levels of Se, Cu, Zn, Fe, Cr, Sr, Mo, Co, Ni, As, and Mn in a fetus's body based on these micronutrient contents in the mother's hair 60 days before the expected calving. Thirty-five clinically healthy Simmental cows with singleton pregnancies were examined, and calves were obtained from them (18 males and 17 females). Hair samples obtained from the calves shortly after birth were analyzed for a retrospective assessment of the fetal micronutrient status. Micronutrients (Se, Cu, Zn, Fe, Cr, Sr, Mo, Co, Ni, As, and Mn) were quantitatively deter-mined in the hair samples using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Nexion 300D, Perkin Elmer, USA). The distribution patterns of micronutrients in the "mother–fetus" system in large cattle were not related to the newborn’s gender. Dependencies be-tween the micronutrient contents in the mother's hair and in the newborn were described by first-order (for Sr), second-order (for Co and Mn), and third-order (for Se, Cu, Zn, Fe, and As) polynomials. For four micronutrients (Se, Cu, Fe, and Co), graphs and analytical expressions were prepared, allowing the prediction of their contents in the fetus's body based on maternal indicators with a level of statistical significance of P = 0.05. For the other four micronutrients (Zn, Sr, As, and Mn), this was achieved with a level of P = 0.10–0.15. No statistically significant dependencies were found between the contents in the mother's hair and the newborn for Mo, Cr, and Ni. Based on the predictions, optimal content ranges were determined for 8 of 11 investigated micronutrients (Se, Cu, Fe, Co, Zn, Sr, As, and Mn) in the cow's hair 60 days before the expected calving, ensuring an optimal level of their accumulation in the fetus's body.