Effect of peroral copper supplementation on selected haematological indicators of horses

Abstract

The purpose of our work was to assess the impact of copper on selected haematological indicators of horse. The trial was performed at the Boudky – Velké Němčice farm. The total number of 23 mares was divided into three groups that were subjected to different mineral feeding modes. The experiment duration was 14 days and the blood samples were taken 1st, 7th and 14th day of experiment.The obtained results show that the enrichment of the horse feeding ration with copper changed the monitored haematological parameters values. Assessment of the changes of haematological indicators between individual trial groups fed with copper-enriched feed with the copper coming from different sources showed the best results in the group with the intake of copper in the inorganic form. This group showed a statistically significant (P < 0.01) increase in erythrocyte count (by 0.85 T.l−1) and haematocrit value (by 0.04 l.l−1) and a statistically significant (P < 0.05) change in haemoglobin level (increasing by 8.9 g.l−1) between initial and final blood sample. Although the group taking organic form of copper showed a significant (P < 0.01) increase in erythrocyte count and haematocrit value in the second blood sample comparing with initial one, the final sample did not corroborate this highly significant correlation. The control group showed no difference between the initial and final blood samples in any of the monitored parameters.

Keywords

• horses
• copper
• organic and inorganic form
• erythrocytes
• haemoglobin
• haematocrit