Studies on the Role of Cobalt in Sheep Nutrition

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Abstract
Cobalt salts administered by mouth at the rate of 1 mg. of the element per head per day brought about a rapid increase in the appetite and body weight of cobalt deficient sheep. By comparison, injection of cobalt salts gave a much slower response. Thiamin injections also brought about a definite improvement in rate of gain in body weight and appetite. Anemia was found to be a concurrent feature in the deficient animals.Administration of cobalt brought about a slow and often erratic hemoglobin response. Injection of cobalt had no greater value in the stimulation of hemoglobin formation over oral administration. Thiamin treatment seemed to aggravate the anemia of the cobalt-deficient lambs. The livers of the deficient lambs were hypertrophied and high in fat con-tent. Administration of 1 mg. cobalt per day improved the condition of the organ but even after 17 weeks, the livers of the animals thus treated were significantly heavier than those of the normal animals. The cobalt content of the livers of deficient animals was very low, but could be brought back to the normal level after treatment for 7 weeks with only 1 mg. of cobalt per day. The livers of the animals injected with similar doses of these cobalt salts, had about 10 times more cobalt than those of the latter group. These data suggest that the physiological role of cobalt in sheep is probably indirect. The effect upon appetite seems to be direct, and that upon hemopoietic centers indirect. It is possible that the beneficial action of cobalt is linked with the normal production of the members of vitamin-B complex in the rumen. Copyright © . .

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