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Value of Supplemental Vitamin A for Fattening Beef Cattle on Pasture¹

Purdue University, Lafayette, Indiana

Abstract

Three beef fattening experiments were conducted on summer pasture to determine the value of supplemental orally administered vitamin A. One experiment compared the value of supplemental vitamin A at a level of 4,400 I.U. per kg. of ration, with and without 100 ppm of added zinc. None of the treatments affected rate of gain significantly over that of the control lot.

Daily levels of 30,000 and 60,000 I.U. of supplemental vitamin A per animal resulted in significantly elevated levels of serum vitamin A and of liver stores of vitamin A at the end of the second experiment. However, no significant effect on rate of gain was found.

Graded levels of 4,400, 8,800 or 13,200 I.U. of vitamin A per kg. of ration were without significant effect on the rate of gain of yearling beef heifers on a 142-day pasture fattening experiment. Final liver stores of vitamin A were quite high in all lots (36 to 219 mcg. per gm. of liver), but each level of supplemental vitamin A resulted in a significant (P<.01) increase in liver storage over the next lowest level of supplementation.

¹ Department of Animal Sciences Journal Paper No. 2689, Purdue University Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was supported in part by a grant-in-aid from Hoffman La Roche and Company, Nutley, New Jersey.