74 Part of Ph.D Thesis Present address: 1 Scientist (pragyacari@gmail.com), Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar. 2 Senior Scientist (lathwal314@gmail.com), 5,6 Resarch Scholar (indulathwal @gmail.com, rohitgpt2009@gmail.com). 3 Assistant Professor (yogivet2248@gmail.com), GADVASU, Ludhiana. 4 Principal Scientist (apruhil@gmail.com), ASRB, New Delhi. The modern husbandry and management practices have increased the milk production in dairy cows but at the cost of higher incidence of health problems. Lameness has not been considered as transition cow disease, but now it has emerged as one of the most severe problem and welfare concern at organized farms (Enting et al. 1997, Zahid et al. 2014). Factors have been recognized as contributing to lameness, like physiological, nutritional, managemental, environmental, genetic etc. (Livesey and Fleming 1984, Manson and Leaver 1988). Nutritional management is a key component in the development of lameness in high yielding cows (Randhawa et al. 2012), either due to non availability of balanced diet or imbalance of specific nutrients in the diet during this phase. More recently, emphasis is being placed on the metabolic disturbances and mechanical changes of the hoof/claw which occur during the peri-parturient period. Blood measures are frequently used in assessment of disease risk, as they are significantly correlated to nutritional status of the animals (Claypool et Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 85 (9): 1006–1011, September 2015/Article Effect of transition diet fortification on lameness and blood metabolites in pre- and post- partum lame Karan Fries cows PRAGYA BHADAURIA 1 , S S LATHWAL 2 , Y S JADOUN 3 , A P RUHIL 4 , INDU DEVI 5 and ROHIT GUPTA 6 National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, Haryana 132 001 India Received: 10 February 2015; Accepted: 30 March 2015 ABSTRACT Peri-parturient period in high yielding cows always associated with a series of nutritional, biochemical, hormonal changes that leads to lameness in later lactation. Extra supplementation of vitamins and minerals responsible for hoof health is recommended in some dairy herds during this period. The present study was conducted by fortifying 10, 20 and 30 mg/d of biotin and 2 g/d of zinc sulphate during pre- and post-partum period (2 months before and 2 months after calving) of 40 high yielding lame crossbred KF cows, distributed into control and three treatment groups. The study revealed that, fortification of transition diet with biotin and Zn significantly reduced the lameness score and recovery time in supplemental groups compare to control group. In T-1, the lameness score was reduced by 1.3, T-2 reduction was maximum by 2, T-3 by 1.5, and in control 0.02 with their respective recovery period of hoof lesions were 38.9±1.1 (T-1) 19.12±1.8 (T-2), 25.3±1.4 (T-3) and 56.2±2.7 days. The overall glucose concentration was observed significantly higher in T-2 group as compared to control group, while overall NEFA and BHBA concentrations were significantly higher in control group as compared to other supplemental groups after 120 days of supplementation. Thus, it can be concluded from the study that, lameness in high yielding cows can be reduced by fortification of transition diet with biotin and zinc. Key words: Blood metabolite, Fortification, Lameness, Transition diet, Zinc al. 1975, Mills et al. 1976). Trace minerals that have been identified as important role in normal hoof health include: calcium, zinc, copper, cobalt and manganese (Kilic et al. 2007, Karkoodi et al. 2012). In vitamins, biotin is essential for the formation and integrity of the keratinized tissues like hoof (Campbell et al. 2000, Hedges et al . 2001, Randhawa et al. 2008b, Al-Qudah and Ismail 2010, Bhadauria et al. 2013). Keeping these problems in view, the research was undertaken to assess the effect of zinc- biotin fortification on lameness score and their resultant effects on blood metabolites profile and dry matter intake of high yielding Karan Fries (KF) cows during pre- and post- partum period. MATERIALS AND METHODS The present study was conducted on peri-parturient period (2 months before and 2 months after calving) of high yielding lame crossbred Karan Fries (KF) cows maintained at Livestock Research Centre (LRC), NDRI, Karnal. Skilled workers at the veterinary dispensary and animal health section, NDRI, diagnosed the animals for hoof disorders. Only those animals, having hoof disorders and showing lameness, based on locomotion scoring system (Sprecher et al. 1997), were selected for the present study. Lame, high yielding KF cows (40) were distributed equally into 3 treatments and a control group. The grouping of the animals