Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T20:56:29.972Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sodium chloride supplements increase the salt appetite and reduce stereotypies in confined cattle

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

C. J. C. Phillips*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
M. Y. I. Youssef*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
P. C. Chiy*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW
D. R. Arney*
Affiliation:
School of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, University of Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW Estonian University of Agriculture, Tartu, Estonia
*
Present address: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
Present address: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagazig, Zagazig, Egypt.
Present address: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
Present address: Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0ES.
Get access

Abstract

The influence of prior exposure to high salt diets on the salt appetite and the exhibition of stereotyped behaviour patterns was investigated with individually penned calves and tethered dairy cows. In the first experiment one half of a group of 12 calves received concentrates with the sodium content increased from 4 to 9 g/kg by the addition of NaCl up to weaning at 6 weeks, the other half had no supplementary NaCl added to the concentrates. Adding the NaCl increased the food intake of the calves, the time spent ruminating and live weight. Stereotyped behaviour patterns, such as self-grooming, licking the pen or buckets and ear sucking were reduced by adding NaCl. Calves were tested for their salt preference at 6 months of age by adding varying quantities of NaCl to silage. Exposing calves to supplementary NaCl in the concentrate pre-weaning increased the preferred sodium concentration of silage from 3 to 9 g/kg dry matter (DM). In the second experiment 36 tethered dairy cows received either a restricted concentrate and forage diet with a mean dietary sodium concentration of 2 g/kg DM, or the same diet but with the sodium content increased to either 7 or 12 g/kg DM by adding NaCl to the concentrates. There was no effect of NaCl on feeding or ruminating behaviour but the total amount of stereotyped behaviour, including mouthing or rubbing the tethering chain or bars, self-grooming and nosing or pawing the ground, decreased with increasing salt in the diet. It is concluded that increasing the sodium content of the diet of young calves from 4 to 9 g/kg increased their subsequent salt appetite and that increasing the salt content of the diet of calves or cows in restricted housing conditions can reduce the amount of stereotyped oral behaviour.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albright, J. I. and Stricklin, W. R. 1989. Recent developments in the provision for cattle welfare. In New techniques in cattle production (ed. Phillips, C.J.C.), pp. 149161. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Berridge, K.C., Flynn, F. W., Schulkin, J. and Grill, H. J. 1984. Sodium depletion enhances salt palatability in rats. Behavioral Neuroscience 98: 652660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bertino, M., Beauchamp, G. K. and Engelmark, K. 1986. Increasing dietary salt alters salt taste preference. Physiology and Behavior 38: 203213.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brownlee, A. 1954. Play in domestic cattle in Britain: an analysis of its nature. British Veterinary Journal 110: 4868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryant, H. U., Lowy, S. T., Malven, P. V., Steele, T. D. and Yim, G. K. W. 1985. Effects of 2% sodium chloride imbibation on various opiate related hyperphagic conditions. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour 23: 391395.Google Scholar
Chiy, P. C, Abdul-latif, A. A., Hassan, M. H. and Phillips, C. J. C. 1998. Effects of sodium and potassium fertilizers on the composition of herbage and its acceptability to dairy cows. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 76: 289297.Google Scholar
Chiy, P. C. and Phillips, C. J. C. 1991. The effects of sodium chloride application to pasture, or its direct supplementation, on dairy cow production and grazing preference. Grass and Forage Science 46: 325331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiy, P.C., Phillips, C. J. C. and Bello, M. R. 1993a. Sodium fertilizer application to pasture. 2. Effects on dairy cow production and behaviour. Grass and Forage Science 48: 203212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chiy, P.C., Phillips, C. J.C., and Omed, H. M. 1993b. Sodium fertilizer application to pasture. 3. Rumen dynamics. Grass and Forage Science 48: 249259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dannenmann, K., Buchenauer, D. and Fliegner, H. 1985. The behaviour of calves under four levels of lighting. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 13: 243258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dantzer, R. and Mittleman, G. 1993. Functional consequences of behavioural stereotypy. In Stereotypie animal behaviour (ed. Lawrence, A. B. and Rushen, J.), pp. 147172. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Denton, D. A., Coghlan, J. P., Fei, D. T., McKinley, M., Nelson, J., Scoggins, B., Tarjan, E., Tregear, G. W., Tresham, J. J., Weisinger, R. and Florey, H. 1984. Stress, ACTH, salt intake and high blood pressure. Clinical and Experimental Hypertension. A, Theory and Practice, A6: 403415.Google Scholar
Denton, D., Weisinger, R., Mundy, N. I., Wickings, E. J., Dixson, A., Moisson, P., Pingard, A. M., Shade, R., Carey, D., Ardaillou, R., Paillard, F., Chapman, J., Thillet, J. and Michel, J. B. 1995. The effect of increased salt intake on blood pressure of chimpanzees. Nature Medicine 1: 10091016.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ewbank, R. 1992. Stress: a general overview. In Farm animals and the environment (ed. Phillips, C.J.C. and Piggins, D.), pp. 255262. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Frankmann, S. P., Broder, L., Dokko, J. H. and Smith, G. P. 1994. Differential changes in central monoaminergic metabolism during first and multiple sodium depletions in rats. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour 47: 617624.Google Scholar
Friend, T. H., Dellmeier, G. R. and Gbur, E. E. 1985. Comparison of four methods of calf confinement. 1. Physiology. Journal of Dairy Science 60: 10951101.Google ScholarPubMed
Hill, D. L. 1988. Influence of dietary sodium on functional taste receptor development: a sensitive period. Science 241: 18261828.Google Scholar
Hughes, B. O. and Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1973. An increase in activity of domestic fowls produced by nutritional deficiency. Animal Behaviour 21: 1017.Google Scholar
Johnson, S. W., Seutin, V. and North, R. A. 1992. Burst firing in dopamine neurones induced by N-methyl-D-aspartate: role of electrogenic sodium pump. Science 258: 665667.Google Scholar
Kuczenski, R., Schmidt, D. and Leith, N. 1977. Amphetamine-haloperidol interactions in rat striatum: failure to correlate behavioral effects with dopaminergic and cholinergic dynamics. Brain Research 126: 117129.Google Scholar
Ladewig, J. and Smidt, D. 1989. Behaviour, episodic secretion of cortisol, and adrenocortical reactivity in bulls subjected to tethering. Hormones and Behaviour 23: 344360.Google Scholar
Lawes Agricultural Trust. 1980. Genstat 5, release 2.2. Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Hertfordshire.Google Scholar
McDowell, L. R. 1995. Salt in free-choice mineral supplements for grazing livestock. In Sodium in agriculture (ed. Phillips, C.J.C. and Chiy, P.>C.), pp. 162172. Chalcombe Publications, Canterbury.Google Scholar
Mason, G. 1993. Forms of stereotypie behaviour. In Stereotypie animal behaviour (ed. Lawrence, A. B. and Rushen, J.), pp. 740. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Micheli, A. R. 1995. Physiological roles for sodium in mammals. In Sodium in agriculture (ed. Phillips, C.J.C. and Chiy, P.C.), pp. 91106. Chalcombe Publications, Canterbury.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Department of Agriculture for Scotland, Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, United Kingdom Agricultural Supply Trade Association, British Veterinary Association. 1983. Mineral, trace element and vitamin allowances for ruminant livestock. Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, London.Google Scholar
Minitab. 1995. Minitab reference manual, release 10 xtra. Minitab, Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Öldberg, F. O. 1978. Abnormal behaviours: stereotypies. Proceedings from the first world congress in ethology applied to zootechnics, Madrid,pp. 475480.Google Scholar
Phillips, C.J.C., Waita, J. M., Arney, D. R. and Chiy, P.C. 1999. The effects of sodium and potassium fertilizers on the grazing behaviour of dairy cows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 61: 201213.Google Scholar
Pruett, J. H., Guillot, F. S. and Fisher, W. F. 1986. Humoral and cellular immunoresponsiveness of stanchioned cattle infested with Psoroptes ovis. Veterinary Parasitology 22: 121133.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Redbo, I. 1990. Changes in duration and frequency of stereotypies and their adjoining behaviours in heifers, before, during and after the grazing period. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 26: 5767.Google Scholar
Rehearte, D. H., Kesler, E. M. and Stringer, W. C. 1984. Forage growth and performance of grazing dairy cows fed concentrate with or without sodium bicarbonate. Journal of Dairy Science 67: 29142921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushen, J., Lawrence, A. B. and Terlouw, E. M. C. 1993. The motivational basis of stereotypes. In Stereotypie animal behaviour (ed. Lawrence, A. B. and Rushen, J.), pp. 4164. CAB International, Wallingford, UK.Google Scholar
Sakai, R. R., Fine, W.B., Epstein, A. N. and Frankmann, S. P. 1987. Salt appetite is enhanced by one prior episode of sodium depletion in the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience 101: 724731.Google Scholar
Sakai, R. R., Frankmann, S. P., Fine, W. B. and Epstein, A. N. 1989. Prior episodes of sodium depletion increase the need-free sodium intake of the rat. Behavioral Neuroscience 103: 186192.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schneider, P. L., Beede, D. K. and Wilcox, C. J. 1986. Responses of lactating cows to dietary sodium source and quantity and potassium quantity during heat stress. Journal of Dairy Science 69: 99110.Google Scholar
Schulkin, J. 1991. Sodium hunger: the search for a salty taste. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.Google Scholar
Sly, J. and Bell, F. R. 1979. Experimental analysis of the seeking behaviour observed in ruminants when they are sodium deficient. Physiology and Behavior 22: 499505.Google Scholar
Stellar, E. 1993. Salt appetite: its neuroendocrine basis. Acta Neurobiolica Experimentia Warsaw 53: 475484.Google ScholarPubMed
Sundram, S., Dean, B. and Copolov, D. L. 1994. The development of a method to measure 3H-dopamine uptake by washed platelets provides no evidence for circulating inhibitors of platelet dopamine uptake in schizophrenia. Biological Psychiatry 36: 595600.Google Scholar
Tarjan, E. and Denton, D. A. 1991. Sodium /water intake of rabbits following administration of hormones of stress. Brain Research Bulletin 26: 133136.Google Scholar
Weisinger, R. S., Denton, D. A., McKinley, M. J. and Nelson, J. F. 1978. ACTH induced sodium appetite in the rat. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behaviour 8: 339342.Google Scholar