Mineral Mixture for Breeding Bulls
Macro and micro minerals play a phenomenal role in normal physiological functions. It is known that mineral level of the animal diet should be balanced for better gut absorption and metabolism in the body. The proportion of macro and micro minerals need to be based on their level of requirement, nature of each element in terms of their synergistic and antagonistic actions. Quality of a good mineral mixture depends on the type of ingredient source, level of inclusion and its bioavailability. Efficient utilization of minerals in the body, warrants precise supplementation based on specific physiological function like growth, reproduction, breeding etc. Production of high-quality semen from bulls requires precise supplementation of minerals. Depending on the essentiality of most limiting minerals including few of the novel beneficial elements, specific mineral mixture for breeding bulls has been formulated and tested in breeding bulls in semen stations and found to improve semen quality as compared to conventional dairy mineral mixture. Technology Details: Semen quality is one of the important factors influencing fertility in dairy animals. Production of better-quality semen depends on nutrition of breeding bulls including supplementation of macro and micronutrients. Hence, a breeding bull specific mineral mixture was formulated based on the mineral requirement, mineral interactions and bioavailability. This mineral mixture was tested and validated in bull stations and found to improve semen quality in terms of sperm concentration, motility and sperm velocity. This formulation will be very useful in improving the semen quality and breeding efficiency of bulls. This will help in overcoming the problem of repeat breeding due to semen quality in dairy animals