Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:21:52.930Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Minimum mineral requirements in cattle1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. Theiler
Affiliation:
(Division of Veterinary Education and Research, Union Department of Agriculture, Pretoria.)
H. H. Green
Affiliation:
(Division of Veterinary Education and Research, Union Department of Agriculture, Pretoria.)
P. J. Du Toit
Affiliation:
(Division of Veterinary Education and Research, Union Department of Agriculture, Pretoria.)

Extract

1. Records are offered of year old cattle reared to adult weight on rations of varying content in respect to calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium and chlorine. Minimal requirements for growth are higher in the case of phosphorus than in the case of calcium, and a ratio of P2O5 to CaO so high as three to one is not necessarily disadvantageous. Sodium requirements for growth are very low, 2 gm. Na2O being more than sufficient. Chlorine requirements are below 5 gm. per day. A relatively high ratio of potassium to sodium is not productive of specific disease. There is no good reason to suppose that excess of basic over acidic constituents is necessary in a dietary, and cattle can grow normally to full adult weight when the usual alkaline reaction of the urine is shifted to the acid side.

2. Explanation of certain observed abnormalities in calving is left open, except in the case of phosphorus deficiency, in which definitely abnormal calves may be born.

3. “Aphosphorosis,” or clinically recognisable phosphorus deficiency disease, is experimentally produced, and shown to be identical with the naturally occurring South African disease Styfsiekte.

4. The chemical composition of the milk of animals suffering from aphosphorosis meed not mecessarily be abnormal, but the “inorganic” fraction of the blood may drop to a quarter of the normal value even before the disease can be diagnosed clinically. Other phosphorus compounds of the blood remain normally high. Blood calcium remains practically normal.

5. Vitamine deficiency of the diets had no adverse effect. Exogenous requirements of cattle for vitamines A, B, and C are so low that they are covered by a few pounds of poor quality roughage, and therefore do not enter into consideration under any natural system of cattle rearing.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1927

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

REFERENCES

(1)Theiler, Green and Du, Toit (May 1924). “Phosphorus in the Live Stock Industry.” Journ. Dept. Agric. Union of South Africa.Google Scholar
(2)Orr, J. B. (1925). The Mineral Elements in Nutrition, Section M, British Association, Southampton.Google Scholar
(3) Rowett Research Institute. Collected Papers, 1.Google Scholar
(4)Shohl, A. T. (Oct. 1923). “Mineral Metabolism in Relation to Acid-Base Equilibrium.” Physiological Reviews, 3, No. 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(5)Marek, J. (April 1924). “Wesen, gegenseitige Beziehung und Therapie der Rachitis, der Osteomalacie, und der Osteoporose.” Archiv f. Tierheilkunde, Band 51, Heft 1.Google Scholar
(6)Ingle, H. See Orr (3), 205.Google Scholar
(7)Blatherwick, N. R. (1920). “Neutrality Regulation in Cattle.” Journ. Biol. Chem. 42, 517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(8)Theiler, A. (15th September, 1925). “Das Knochenfressen der Rinder in Südafrika.” Schweizer Archiv f. Tierheilkunde.Google Scholar
(9)Green, H. H. (July 1925). “Perverted Appetites.” Physiological Reviews, 5, No. 3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(10)Green, H. H. (1917). “The Deficiency Aspect of Maize Milling Products.” Fifth and Sixth Reports of the Director of Veterinary Research, Union of South Africa.Google Scholar
(11)Theiler, Green and Viljoen, (1915). “Contribution to the Study of Deficiency Disease with Special Reference to the Lamsiekte Problem in South Africa.” Third and Fourth Reports of the Director of Veterinary Research, Union of South Africa.Google Scholar
(12)Jones, I. R., Eckles, C. H. and Palmer, L. S. (March 1926). “The Rôle of Vitamin A in the Nutrition of Calves.” Journ. of Dairy Sci. 9, No. 2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(13)Forbes, E. B. and co-workers (1922). “Mineral Metabolism of the Milch Cow.” Journ. Biol. Chem. 52, 281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(14)Meigs, , Blatherwick, and Cary, (1919). “Phosphorus and Calcium Metabolism.” Journ. Biol. Chem. 37, 70.Google Scholar