The Effects of Feeding Clinoptilolite on Hematology, Performance, and Health of Newborn Lambs

Abstract

The effects of feeding clinoptilolite on hematology, performance, and health of<br><br>newborn Balouchi lambs were evaluated in this experiment. In a completely randomized<br><br>design, 30 newborn lambs were allocated to three groups and fed by basal diet (C0; without<br><br>clinoptilolite) and C1 and C2 (the basal diet plus 1.5% and 3% clinoptilolite, respectively,<br><br>for 6 weeks (3 weeks before and 3 weeks after weaning)). Blood samples were taken from<br><br>all lambs, at the time when the animals were allocated to the experimental diet and at the<br><br>end of each week of experiment, and analyzed for hematology, plasma fibrinogen, and total<br><br>protein. Performance and health of all lambs were measured. Fecal consistency score and<br><br>diarrhea severity were evaluated. There was no difference between lambs in case of<br><br>hematological parameters. Lambs fecal consistency score and severity of diarrhea were<br><br>lowest (P&lt;0.05) for lambs on C1 and C2 and highest for lambs on C0. Dry matter intake<br><br>and feed conservation ratio were similar between the groups of lambs fed by different diets,<br><br>but daily gain of lambs differed significantly (P&lt;0.05) and was higher in C2. It was<br><br>concluded that addition of 3% clinoptilolite to starter diet of newborn lamb can reduce<br><br>incidence and severity of diarrhea, although its effect on hematology and performance was<br><br>negligible.