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Zinc Deficiency Syndrome in the Young Calf¹

Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana

Abstract

Eight Holstein calves 7 to 11 weeks of age were divided into two comparable groups and assigned to either the basal diet (3 mg. zinc/ kg. diet), composed of the following in percent: dried egg white, 15; glucose monohydrate, 28; starch, 28; cellulose, 18; corn oil, 3; polyethylene, 2; minerals and vitamins, 6; or the basal-f 100 mg. zinc/kg, diet. The supplemental zinc was supplied as ZnO. By the end of the third week all three calves fed the basal diet had become listless, and reduced gains were evident. Swollen feet with open scaly lesions developed followed by alopecia and general dermatitis, which was most severe on the legs, neck, head and around the nostrils. At the end of 10 weeks average daily gain, feed consumption and feed to gain ratio for the basal and basal+100 mg. zinc/kg, groups were, respectively, in kilograms: 0.21, 2.06, 10.67; and 0.55, 2.15, 3.96. Serum zinc values were 18 and 116 mcg./100 ml. in the basal and basal+100 mg. zinc/kg, groups, respectively. Serum albumin and blood glucose values also dropped, and globulin levels increased in the deficient animals. The deficiency was corrected within 3 to 4 weeks by feeding the diet supplemented with 100 mg. zinc/kg. Placing an animal on the basal diet after 10 weeks on the basal-)-100 mg. zinc/kg, diet resulted in deficiency symptoms within 3 weeks.

¹ Contribution from Department of Animal Sciences, Journal Paper No. 2373.

² The authors wish to express their appreciation to R. H. Tetzloff for the care of the animals and to Carol A. Inkpen for technical assistance in the laboratory.