The influence of nutrition and seasonal conditions on mineral status in the reindeer

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Abstract
Body weight, serum sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, and zinc concentrations, and alkaline phosphatase (EC 3.1.3.1) activity were measured in freely grazing reindeer in Kuusamo, Finland (66°30′N), at four different seasons in the year. The same parameters were also measured in late winter in a group of artificially fed reindeer in Kuusamo and a group in Enontekiö, Finland (68°30′N), which were grazing freely in very poor conditions. Some weeks after sampling about 40% of the reindeer in this latter area died of malnutrition. Bone densities were measured in some of these animals.The reindeer in Enontekiö had suffered from severe mineral deficiency. Serum calcium, magnesium, and copper concentrations were very low. It is assumed that the final death of the animals may have been caused by a disturbance in mineral metabolism. Serum calcium concentration was also low in the freely grazing group with near normal winter food conditions in Kuusamo. It is suggested that the reindeer compensate for the poor mineral content of the winter food by using the skeleton as a mineral bank even in normal winter. A seasonal cycle was found in serum copper concentration in the hinds, values being high in late pregnancy and after parturition. Serum potassium and zinc concentrations were lowest in autumn and winter.