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Vitamin A, Corn Silage and Raw Soybeans for Finishing Steers in Drylot^{1, 2, 3, 4,}

Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina

Abstract

Somewhat contradictory evidence on the needs of beef cattle for dietary vitamin A exists in the literature. Animals on good pasture obtain sufficient carotene to meet their requirements (Chapman et al., 1964; Perry et al., 1966), but findings are quite diverse in respect to needs for supplemental vitamin A in drylot finishing programs. Administration of this vitamin has significantly improved rates of gain (Perry et al; 1962; Perry et al. 1968) but Weichenthal et al. (1963) found that feedlot performance of yearling steers was not improved by supplemental vitamin A.

The increasing use of corn silage for beef production suggested the desirability of further evaluation of this material in drylot feeding programs. The work of Jordan et al. (1963) and Smith et al. (1964) suggests a definite inability of carotenes from corn silage to meet the vitamin A requirements of feeder steers. Klosterman et al. (1964) concluded that growing-fattening steers were able to obtain their daily vitamin A requirements from carotene supplied by corn silages.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director, South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, as Paper No. 742 in the Journal series.

² This research was supported in part by funds from the Southern Regional Project S-10, Breeding Methods for Beef Cattle in the Southern Region, a cooperative study by agricultural experiment stations in the Southern Region and the U.S.D.A.

³ Partial financial support was provided by Columbia Nitrogen Corporation, Augusta, Georgia.

⁴ Synthetic vitamin A palmitate was supplied by Chas. Pfizer and Company, Inc.

⁵ The authors acknowledge the assistance of H. O. Wheeler in blood and liver analysis during the first two years of the experiment, and of W. P. Byrd in statistical analysis of data.