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Placental and Mammary Transfer of Vitamin A in Swine and Goats as Affected by the Prepartum Diet

Cornell University¹

Abstract

Data are reported which show that the extent of placental and mammary transfer of vitamin A in goats and swine can be increased by the addition of large amounts of vitamin A to the diet of the pregnant female. Under normal feeding conditions where the diet of the pregnant females contained usual amounts of carotenoids, but no vitamin A, newborn kids were found to have negligible quantities of vitamin A in their livers, but newborn pigs had appreciable hepatic stores. The addition of massive doses of vitamin A to the diet of the doe or sow during the last quarter of gestation caused a large increase in the amount of vitamin A in the plasma and liver of the young.

Colostrum produced by dairy goats had larger concentrations of vitamin A than colostrum produced by sows when the pregnant females received the usual winter rations. Feeding massive doses of vitamin A during late pregnancy markedly increased the vitamin A content in the colostrum produced by both does and sows.

¹ Department of Animal Husbandry, Ithaca, New York.