The effectiveness of vitamin and mineral premix and mineral mixture in treating hypocalcaemia in pregnant goats

The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of the vitamin and mineral premix “Koza Kitna” and the mineral mixture “Vita” in treating hypocalcaemia in pregnant goats. Experimental studies were conducted on pregnant animals in the experimental (n = 12) and control (n = 8) groups. The effectiveness of the preparations was determined based on the results of clinical and instrumental (echo osteometry) studies of goats, as well as laboratory blood tests at the beginning and end of the experiment. The content of total calcium and its ionised fraction in blood serum was determined using standardised methods, and the concentration of 25OHD3 was determined using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay with the 25-OH Vitamin D Total (Vit D-Direct) test system. It has been established that feeding pregnant goats with the vitamin and mineral premix “Koza Kitna” and the mineral mixture “Vita” in daily doses of 50 and 40 g/head for 40 days contributed to the restoration of total calcium metabolism and its ionised fraction in the blood serum of 100.0 % of the animals in the experimental group. Feeding the control group goats the mineral mixture “Vita” at a dose of 40 g/head was ineffective. The results of the ROC analysis also indicate the high effectiveness of feeding these preparations to animals in the experimental group: the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was 1.0 (95 % CI: 0.832–1.0; sensitivity – 100.0 %; specificity – 100.0 %; J index – 100.0 %; P < 0.001). At the end of the experiment, the calcidiol content in the blood serum of goats in the experimental group was 1.4 times higher than that of goats at the beginning of the experiment, and its values ranged from 18.0 to 32.4 ng/mL (23.7 ± 2.31 ng/mL). Feeding the mineral mixture to the goats in the control group resulted in a slight increase in the level of 25-hydroxycolecalciferol in some of the animals, but its values were significantly lower than in the experimental group. At the end of the experiment, the speed of ultrasonic wave propagation in the experimental group of goats was significantly higher than at the beginning of the experiment and 26.2 % higher than in the control group.