CONCENTRATIONS OF SOME MICROELEMENTS IN T HE FUR OF STANDARD COYPU DURING ONTOGENY

An experimental was conducted on the Farm of Fur-bearing Animals of th e Research Institute of Animal Production at Nitra. The animals were h oused in a facility with one-storey cages and water runs. They receive d granular feed mixture KK. They could drink in pools and they receive d green fodder (alfalfa) or fodder beet as saturation supplement. The animals were clinically healthy. The experiment lasted eight months an d experimental observation involved about 25 males and 25 females depe nding upon their age category. Fur samples were shorn from two topolog ical regions (dorsal middle and ventral middle). A sample contained ap proximately 2 g fur. Fur samples were taken in dependence upon the gro wth of the fur generations: until the age of 60 days (young fur), 135 days (molting stage) and 240 days (fur maturity). Concentrations of th ese elements were determined in fur samples by dispersion-X-fluorescen t spectrometry (mg per 1 kg dry matter): Fe, Zn, Sr, Cu, Br, Mn, Pb an d Rb. Concentrations of these elements were also determined in the fee d ingredients. The results were processed by mathematico-statistical m ethods and significance of differences in arithmetical means between t he sexes was tested by t-test. The results indicated significantly hig her contents of Sr, Cu, Rb and Pb in the female fur and of Fe in the m ale fur. Higher concentrations (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01) of Sr we re found at 60 days of age in the dorsal and ventral regions, at 135 d ays in the ventral region and at 240 days in the dorsal region and in the ventral region (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.05). Highly significant differences in Cu contents were observed at the age of 60 days in the dorsal region, in the ventral region and at 240 days in the dorsal and ventral regions. There were significant differences in Rb contents at the age of 60 days in the dorsal region and at 135 days of age in the dorsal region, while there were highly significant differences at the age of 240 days in the dorsal and ventral regions. Significant differ ences (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01) in Pb concentrations were found o ut only at the age of 240 days in the dorsal region and in the ventral region. Highly significant concentrations of Fe (P less-than-or-equal -to 0.01) in the male fur were determined at the age of 60 days in the dorsal regio n and in the ventral region and at the age of 240 days i n the dorsal region and in the ventral region. Zn contents in the male s at the age of 135 days in the dorsal and ventral regions were higher (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01) than in the females, and at the age of 240 days they were significantly lower (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.01) in the dorsal and ventral regions. The female fur contained a signifi cantly higher amount of Br (P less-than-or-equal-to 0.05) in the dorsa l region at the age of 240 days and a significantly higher amount of M n at the age of 60 days.