AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com/www.ijaronline.in *Corresponding author’s e-mail: dr.pankajmaurya3003@gmail.com. 1 Department of Veterinary Physiology, College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, NDUAT, Kumarganj, Faizabad-224 229 (U.P.), India. 2 Department of Veterinary Physiology and Biochemistry, College of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry, Rewa- 486 001 (M.P.), India. Indian J. Anim. Res., 50 (1) 2016: 48-52 Print ISSN:0367-6722 / Online ISSN:0976-0555 Effect of -tocopherol acetate and zinc supplementation on body condition, energy metabolites and milk production in Karan Fries cows Pankaj Kumar Maurya* 1 , Anjali Aggarwal, A.K. Singh 2 and B.K. Chaudhari ICAR- National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal-132 001, India. Received: 14-04-2015 Accepted: 11-12-2015 DOI: 10.18805/ijar.8563 ABSTRACT The study was conducted to investigate the effect of -tocopherol acetate and zinc on body condition, energy metabolites and milk production in Karan Fries cows. Sixteen pregnant Karan Fries cows were selected two months before expected date of calving. The experimental animals were randomly divided in to two groups namely control group (eight cows) and treatment group (eight cows). Treatment group cows were supplemented with -tocopherol acetate @ 1000 IU/day/cow and zinc @ 60 ppm/day/cow. Blood samples were collected on the days -60, -45, -30, -15, -7, 0, +7, +15, +30, +45 and +60 with respect to expected date of calving. The body weight and body condition score of all the experimental animals was recorded on the day of blood collection. After calving milk yield of the experimental animals was recorded till 60 days in milk. At parturition, body weight and body condition score differ significantly (P<0.001) in treatment group than control group (448.00 vs. 416.33 Kg and 4.42 vs. 4.17, respectively). The overall mean (±SEM) of plasma glucose was found to be significantly (P<0.001) higher in treatment group as compared to control group (62.39±1.23 vs. 57.44±1.59 mg/dl). The overall mean of non-esterified fatty acids was found to be significantly (P<0.001) lower in treatment group as compared to control group (197.10±3.38 vs. 239.21±3.48 μM/L). The overall mean of milk yield was found significantly (P<0.001) higher in treatment group as compared to control group (20.48±1.16 vs. 16.94±1.38 Kg/day i.e. 20.90%). The results of this study indicated that supplementation of antioxidants like -tocopherol acetate and zinc have beneficial effects on milk production along with improved body condition and metabolic status of the animals. Key words: -tocopherol acetate, Body condition score, Energy metabolites, Milk production, Zinc. INTRODUCTION The dairy cow undergoes the physiological transition from nonlactating state to lactating state during the periparturient period. Dairy cattle are more susceptible to a variety of metabolic and infectious diseases during the transition period compared with peak lactation (Sordillo et al., 2007; Sharma et al., 2011). Physiological changes during transition period associated with rapid differentiation of secretory parenchyma, intense mammary gland growth, and the onset of copious milk synthesis and secretion are accompanied by a high-energy demand and animals undergo negative energy balance (Gitto et al., 2002). High-producing dairy cows commonly suffer from metabolic stress, and if this is combined with other stressful situations, such as oxidative stress, hot environment, and infectious diseases, it leads to metabolic diseases. Ratio of growth hormone to insulin in blood is high in cows in early lactation, which stimulates mobilization of long-chain fatty acids from adipose tissue in support of lactation. Adipose tissue in the cow is oriented towards mobilisation of NEFA in early lactation rather than lipid deposition (McNamara, 1991). Stressors and poor nutritional management causing decreases in voluntary DMI will result in large increases in NEFA immediately after calving (Ingvartsen and Andersen, 2000). Wildman et al. (1982) defined body condition score (BCS) as an accurate and practical means of determining the degree of fitness in dairy cows independent of frame size. Body condition score is a valuable tool in predicting the productive and reproductive performance in many domesticated animals (Wildman et al., 1982; Butler and Smith, 1989; Domecq et al ., 1997). Vitamin E is crucially involved in immune function, such that supplementation with supranutritional levels of the vitamin E, results in improved immune responses and milk production (Chawla and Kaur, 2005; Baldi, 2005; Baldi et al., 2008; Chandra and Aggarwal, 2009; Singh et al., 2010). Therefore, present study was planned to explore the effect of tocopherol acetate and zinc supplementation on body condition, metabolic status and milk production in Karan Fries cows. MATERIALS AND METHODS The experiment was approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC) constituted as per the