Clinico-hemato-biochemical study of two commercial feed supplements for amelioration of rickets in growing male lambs

The occurrence of rickets in young male lambs was investigated and amelioration was done with two commercial feed supplements (CFS-I and CFS-II) as a source of vitamins and minerals to see the beneficial effect in clinically affected lambs. Out of 113 male lambs, 18 lambs showed clinical symptoms of rickets such as bowing of legs, swelling of joints, stiff gait, and lameness. The ameliorative study was conducted for 45 days on 12 rickets affected lambs equally divided into two groups with commercial feed supplements as group I and group II. Six healthy lambs were served as control (group III). Clinical recovery after feed supplementation was assessed on the scale basis, and the hemato-biochemical alterations and serum mineral profile were evaluated on 0, 15, 30, and 45th days. The severity of clinical signs was found reduced in both the feed supplementation groups after 30th day in rickets affected animals and recovered completely on 45th day. The hematological values, serum total protein, globulin, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium levels revealed gradual improvement in rickets affected animals during the course of commercial feed supplementations and were comparable to the control animals at the end of experiment. The results of the study indicated that the feed supplementation with CFS-II was found to be more effective than CFS-I in the amelioration of rickets affected lambs.