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Vitamins A and C Concentrations in the Blood Plasma of Ewes, their Milk, and in the Blood Plasma of their Lambs¹

University of Wisconsin²

Abstract

Blood analyses of lambs showed that they were deficient at birth in blood plasma vitamins A and C compared with their dams.

The plasma vitamin A levels of these lambs reached an apparently normal range of 20 to 33 gamma per 100 cc. plasma following the ingestion of colostrum. However, at no time during the experiment did the lambs' plasma vitamin A levels reach those of the ewes.

The colostrum analyzed contained approximately six to seven times as much vitamin A as the later milkings. An inverse condition was found in regard to the vitamin C picture of the young lambs. While they were born comparatively low in plasma vitamin C, these values decreased through the first four days of life before rapidly increasing to a normal level.

The fact that the colostrum analyzed was no higher in vitamin C than the normal milk, perhaps accounts for this decrease in the plasma of the lambs. At any rate, these lambs were low in vitamin C during their first four days of life and colostrum did not sustain the blood plasma ascorbic acid concentration within the normal range of older sheep.

The ewes' plasma vitamins A and C values were consistently higher during lactation than at any other period.

No measurable amount of carotene was found in the plasma or milk of these ewes. Hence it is concluded that sheep are efficient converters of carotene to vitamin A. A comparison of plasma vitamins A and C levels of sheep and other species is discussed.

¹ Published with the approval of the Director of the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station, Madison, Wisconsin.

² From the Animal Husbandry and Biochemistry Departments, Madison, Wisconsin.