BIOLOGICAL AVAILABILITY OF FE, CU AND CO IN CUBAN SULFATES - SHEEP STUDIES

The biological evaluation of three Cuban sulfates: copper, iron and co balt as supplements for sheep rations was carried out. Five rams distr ibuted according to a balanced Latin square design received a basal di et which was deficient in the microelements under evaluation. In treat ment 1 (control) imported salts were used, in treatments 2, 3 and 4, t he iron, copper and cobalt, respectively, were substituted and In trea tment 5, the three home sources. Consumptions and apparent digestibili ty of the dry matter, organic matter and ash did not differ between tr eatments and the average values were 1096 g/day and 59%; 1075 g/day an d 62%; 21 and 47%, respectively. The apparent digestibility of the nit rogen (69.04) and the neutral detergent fibre (61.61%) ranged between the values established for the species and did not differ between trea tments. There were iron and copper retention values of 93 and 87%, res pectively, while cobalt had an availability of almost 100%. Results sh ow that iron, copper and cobalt in the Cuban sulfates are highly avail able for ruminants and contribute to the utilization of the rest of th e nutrients of the ration.