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The Biological Availability of Calcium in Feeds for Cattle¹

University of Tennessee—Atomic Energy Commission, Agricultural Research Program, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Abstract

Radioisotope procedures were employed for the measurement of endogenous calcium in cattle and for the subsequent calculation of net absorption.

Results of availability studies from 109 individual balance studies with young and mature steers, pair-fed a basal ration to which calcium was supplied from 15 organic and inorganic sources indicated that true digestibility was greater in young than mature steers, and that this difference due to age was greater than that due to calcium source itself. Calcium from inorganic sources appeared to be utilized slightly more efficiently by cattle than that from alfalfa, lespedeza or orchard grass hay, but in consideration of the limited trials these differences were not statistically significant.

The application of the procedures described should be useful for the estimation of endogenous losses and the subsequent calculation of biological availability of calcium and various other minerals for cattle, sheep and swine under various experimental conditions.

¹ This manuscript is published with the permission of the Director of the University of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, Knoxville, Tennessee.

² Present address: Animal Industry Department, L.S.U., Baton Rouge, La.

The Radioactive materials employed were obtained from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory on allocation from the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

This study was completed under Contract No. AT-40-1-GEN-242 between the University of Tennessee, College of Agriculture, and the Atomic Energy Commission.