effect of different levels of zinc and copper organic supplements on performance and some blood metabolites of mehraban male lambs

the effect of different levels of zinc and copper organic supplements on performance, plasma copper plus zinc status, serum alkaline phosphatase (alp), ceruloplasmin (cp) activity as well as vitamin ¬a concentration was studied in 25 mehraban male lambs each of 5-6 months of age and 30/64±3/47kg of live weight. the following five dietary treatments were used: 1) control (base diet with no addition of either adding zinc or copper proteinate supplements), 2) base diet+20 mg/kg of zinc+10 mg/kg of copper, 3) base diet+20 mg/kg of zinc+20 mg/kg of copper, 4) base diet+40 mg/kg of zinc+10 mg/kg of copper, 5) base diet+40 mg/kg of zinc+20 mg/kg of copper. the zn and cu supplementations didn’t exert any significantly effect on the performance but induced significant increase in the plasma levels of copper and zinc (p=0/0001), however no significant difference was observed between the supplemented treatments. regardless on the levels of zn and cu organic supplementation, cp activity was increased. alp activity was increased numerically but no significant difference was observed between the treatments. the supplementation indicated a positive significant effect on serum vitamin a concentration (p=0/041). the highest levels of zinc and copper (5treatments) induced highest serum vitamin a concentration.