Cobalt requirement of beef cattle — feed intake and growth at different levels of cobalt supply

Abstract

Summary In a study using a total of 36 German Simmental beef bulls weighing between 236 kg and about 620 kg the question of what constitutes an adequate Co supply was investigated with reference to the performance criteria growth, feed intake, energy intake, nutrient intake and carcass criteria. The bulls received a diet of corn silage ad libitum and 2.5 kg concentrate for a period of 280 days. Ten rations (R) with graduated Co supplements were fed with mean concentrations of 0.07 (R1), 0.09 (R2), 0.11 (R3), 0.15 (R4), 0.18 (R5), 0.26 (R6), 0.33 (R7), 0.42 (R8), 0.59 (R9) and 0.69 (R10) mg Co per kg dry matter (DM) intake. The Co supplement was added as CoSO47H2O. The diets with no or low Co supplementation produced either distinctly lower daily gains of 1045g (R1) and 1130g (R2) or lower daily gains of about 1260 g (R3, R4) than rations R5–R10, where daily gains averaged 1340 g. The mean daily feed intake per animal was also significantly or marginally affected with values of 6.0 kg DM (R1) rising to 7.7 kg DM (R2–R4) versus 7.9 kg DM on average (R5–R10). Calculations using the broken line model and the quadratic model show that the optimal Co supply for maximum growth is 0.12 mg/kg dietary DM and for maximum feed intake, 0.16–0.18 mg Co/kg dietary DM. After taking further biochemical criteria into account (Stangl et al. 2000), a level of 0.20 mg/kg dietary DM is recommended as an adequate Co supply for growing cattle.

Free-choice mineral consumption in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) response to diet deficiencies

“…Cobalt requirements in ruminants are high as absorption is much less efficient than in simple-stomached animals, with about 3% converted to vitamin B 12 , although conversion increases when diet is Codeficient (Smith and Marston, 1970). Andrews (1956) showed that lambs are the most sensitive to Co deficiency under grazing conditions, and Marston (1970) showed that requirements for growing lambs are about 10 times the reported values for adults (also recently confirmed for growing beef cattle: Kirchgessner et al, 1998;Stangl et al, 1999;Schwarz et al, 2000). That way, Co free-choice consumption not only response to diet deficiencies, but also hind:calf consumption ratio observed agree with previously published data.…”

Fontes orgânicas e inorgânicas de selênio na nutrição de vacas leiteiras: digestão, absorção, metabolismo e exigências

“…A SeMet pode ser transformada a SeCis pela mesma rota que a metionina é convertida a cisteína. Atualmente, a maior parte das recomendações para suplementação de Se para bovinos leiteiros varia entre 0,1 a 0,3mg kg -1 MS, independentemente do estado fisiológico, da idade dos animais ou da forma com que o Se é suplementado (ARC, 1980;GfE, 2001;NRC, 2001 Como o metabolismo dos microminerais nos animais possui um controle homeostático, o organismo regula situações de deficiência, através da mobilização de reservas, e de excesso, através da excreção dos excedentes ou da redução da absorção intestinal (KIRCHGESSNER, 1993;KIRCHGESSNER et al, 1997;SCHWARZ et al, 2000). No entanto, diferente do que ocorre com outros microelementos, parece não existir regulação da absorção intestinal das diferentes formas de Se (VENDELAND et al, 1994).…”

Nutritional composition of three fodder species browsed by camels (Camelus dromedarius) on arid area of Tunisia

“…raetam contained slightly bigger amounts of cobalt than the other species, but not big enough. Some years ago lower cobalt nutritional values used to be recommended in a number of countries, because cobalt deficiency results in the development of acobaltosis which causes disorders of digestion and metabolism (Schwarz et al 2000).…”