Nutritional status of cattle in Ethiopia: the search for easy-to-establish indicators. V. Dermauw 1, D. Belay 2, K. Yisehak 2, D. Solomon 2, G. P. J. Janssens 1 1 Ghent University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Merelbeke, Belgium 2 Jimma University College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Jimma, Ethiopia This is PhD work done in the context of the IUC-JU project 1.Introduction & objectives Indicators of nutritional status of cattle as mentioned in literature *: body condition score (BCS), faecal nitrogen, faecal nitrogen fractions, mineral status Objectives of this study: 1) investigate strength “old” and “new” candidate indicators (BCS and faecal/plasma samples) in model 2) evaluate nutritional status of cattle around the Gilgel Gibe dam 2. Materials and methods 3 regions (at low, intermediate and high altitude) around the dam: 6 herds/region, 5 animals/herd: -BCS -faeces: nitrogen and fractions (see figure 1): vegetal, animal and bacterial, minerals: such as Cu, Fe, Zn, … -plasma: minerals Statistics: variance analysis between three regions followed by partial correlation analysis (controlling for region and herd) 4. Conclusions -BCS was not useful in this type of study to detect differences between regions -Faecal N and forage/metabolic fractions can be used in the future for evaluation of nutritional status -The apparent Cu deficiency in the region should be treated and closely monitored, antagonisms of Fe and Zn are aggravating the situation -Herd effects seem very important and indicate differences in management between herds, the nutritional status of animals varies widely in the same region as a consequence 3. Results Selected results are presented in table 1. -Faecal N (%OM) and the % forage and metabolic N were significantly different between regions. -BCS did not differ between regions, nor did the other faecal parameters -Cu levels in plasma differed between regions, a Cu deficiency was clear in all regions -Fe & Zn levels didn’t differ and were high to very high -significant herd effects for BCS, Cu, Zn, Fe and Zn -BCS was positively correlated with Cu status in blood and negatively with Fe status References: * Available upon request. Figure 1. Faecal nitrogen fractions and origin LIHSEMP Normal values for cattle N (% OM) Veg. N (% N) 43 a 41 b 41 ab Met.N (% N) 56 a 59 b 59 ab Bact. N (% N) An. N (% N) BCS Scale 1 to 9 Cu (mg/l)0.25 a 0.40 ab 0.49 b Fe (mg/l) Zn (mg/l) Table 1. Comparison of faecal and plasma parameters in cattle and body condition scores of these animals between different regions around the Gilgel Gibe dam in Ethiopia, combined on herd level a, b : letters indicate a significant difference (P <0.05) with Tukey post hoc test, L= low, I= intermediate, H= high region, AIA= acid insoluble, ASA= acid soluble ash, forage N= NDF +SDS N, metabolic N= N- NDF +SDS N, bacterial N= NDF -SDS N-NDF +SDS N, animal N= Metabolic N-Bacterial N Faecal N Metabolic Animal Bacterial Vegetal undigested dietary material undigested material originated of sloughing of intestinal wall cells and endogenous secretion in the gut undigestible ruminal bacterial walls and cells from fermentation in the lower tract