Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Ivana Novotna
Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Petra Nemcova
Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Miroslav Machacek
Department of Animal Protection and Welfare and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackeho trida 1, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic
Zdenek Havlicek
Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Monika Zemanova
Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Vladimir Chrast
Department of Animal Morphology, Physiology and Genetics, Faculty of AgriSciences, Mendel University in Brno, Zemedelska 1, 613 00 Brno, Czech Republic
Lameness is currently one of the most important and economically demanding diseases in cattle. It is manifested in a change in locomotion that is associated with lesions, especially the pelvic limbs. The disease of the hoof is painful, affecting the welfare of dairy cows. Important factors that influence the health of the limbs include nutrition, animal hygiene, stable technology, and genetic and breeding predispositions. Nutrition is one of the basic preventive factors affecting the quality and growth of the hoof horn, and the associated prevalence of hoof disease. The strength and structure of the hoof horn are affected by the composition of the feed ration (amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and toxic substances contaminating the feed ration, or arising in the feed ration as metabolites of fungi).
