Vol. 2 No. 2 (2019): MACRO AND MICRO MINERAL STATUS OF DAIRY FEEDS IN EAST SHOA ZONE, OROMIA REGION STATE, ETHIOPIA

Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate different feed types collected from two districts (Ada’a and Adama zuria) of two production systems (urban and peri-urban) based on season’s (dry and wet) in East Shoa Zone, for their macro and micro mineral concentrations. Feeds in the selected districts comprised of roughages, concentrates, and non-conventional feeds. All feed samples were taken directly from the field supplied by the farmers. The feed samples were analyzed for the macro and micro minerals namely Ca, P, Mg, Cu, Fe, Zn, and Co, using atomic absorption flame emission spectrometer and P concentration was measured by the spectrophotometer. The critical level (CL) used in this article is defined as the concentration of minerals below the level considering the requirements for dairy cows. The mean calcium concentrations in roughage varied from (0.13 to 0.55%); concentrate (0.14 to 0.64%) and non-conventional feed (0.34 to 0.69%) DM respectively.