Serum Vitamin A and Vitamin E Levels of Growing Lambs Infected or Not with Gastrointestinal Nematodes and Fed a Diet Containing Clinoptilolite

The objective was to assess the concentrations of Vitamins A and E in blood of growing lambs infected or not with gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) and fed a diet containing clinoptilolite. Twenty-four male lambs were used. A $2{\times}2$ factorial design consisting of two feeding treatments (B and Z) and two levels of parasitic status, infected (I) and uninfected (U) was used. Lambs were randomly assigned to one of four (n = 6), groups: BU (basal-uninfected), BI (basal-infected), ZU (zeolite-uninfected) and ZI (zeoliteinfected). Lambs of groups BI and ZI were infected with a single dose of 15,000 $L_3$ larvae of GIN. Blood samples were collected from individual animals at the start of the experiment and, thereafter, at 15-day intervals. The average blood serum vitamin A and vitamin E, concentration in lambs (mean${\pm}$SD) was 0.25${\pm}$0.090 ${\mu}g/ml$ and 1.59${\pm}$0.769 ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively. Lambs fed Z diet had higher values of vitamin A (p<0.001), but lower values of vitamin E (p<0.01) when compared with those fed B diet.