A Quantitative Study of Vitamins in the Rumen Content of Sheep and Cows Fed Vitamin-Low Diets

Abstract

Sheep and cows were fed a vitamin B complex low diet containing less than 2.8 μg. of pantothenic acid per gram. The rumen and reticulum contents of the sheep were found to contain 70 μg. of pantothenic acid per gram dry substance or a twenty-fivefold increase over the ration fed. Samples of rumen contents from two cows fed the deficient ration contained from twenty to thirty times as much pantothenic acid as did the ration fed. The amount of pantothenic acid excreted by way of the milk from one of the cows was estimated to be twice as great as could be accounted for in the ration fed.