Effect of a Low Zinc Diet during Gestation on Reproduction in the Rabbit

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Abstract
The effect of depriving normal Dutch-belted female rabbits of zinc from day 1 or 10 of gestation was studied. The diet used contained 2 to 3 ppm zinc; controls were fed the same diet but were given drinking water supplemented with SO ppm zinc. Only four of eight females deprived of zinc from day 1 were able to maintain pregnancy vs. six of seven controls. Five of seven females supplemented with zinc until day 10 of gestation maintained pregnancy. The effect on the off-spring of depriving the does of zinc from day 1 or 10 was the same. Does that delivered after receiving the low zinc diet with no additional zinc from either day 1 or 10 had reduced weight gains and smaller fetuses which did not survive. The concentration of zinc in the neonatal liver and in the afterbirth was reduced. Four-week-old rabbits fed a low-zinc diet ceased to grow after 2 weeks. Copyright © 1971. American Society of Animal Science . Copyright 1971 by American Society of Animal Science.