effects of gestation on serum macrominerals and microminerals in arabian horse

background: minerals are essential materials in animal reproduction. the determination of these elements is valuable in relation to different conditions in arabian horses. objectives: the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of pregnancy on certain macro and micro minerals in arabian horses. methods: blood samples were collected from one hundred apparently healthy mares from different regions of ahvaz including 50 pregnant mares (light, medium, heavy) and 50 non-pregnant mares. macro-minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and potassium) and micro-minerals (copper, zinc and iron) were measured, using standard common laboratory methods. methods of o-cresol phetalein, molybdate reduction, xylidil blue were used for measurement of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium respectively. flame photometry was used for measurement of sodium and potassium. amounts of copper, zinc and iron were measured by atomic absorption spectroscopy.  results: in order to analyze the results, all the data was statistically compared by spss-17.0 software. the study of serum calcium levels between the pregnant and non-pregnant mares showed that the differences were not significant. in this study there was significant differences between serum phosphorus levels between pregnant and non-pregnant mares (p