The Rôle of the Antiscorbutic Vitamin in the Nutrition of Calves

Abstract

It is definitely known that man, the guinea pig and the mon- key require a certain amount of the substance which is termed vitamin C or the antiscorbutic vitamin; and that unless the required amount of this vitamin is supplied by the food a hemor- rhagic disease known as scurvy develops. It is also known that the rat, when fed on rations which produce scurvy in man, or in the animals mentioned, fails to develop the disease. The experimental work of Parsons and co-workers (1) (2) (3) and of Lepkovsky and Nelson (4) gives considerable evidence that the rat is able to synthesize the antiscorbutic vitamin and store it in the liver. These investigators consider this an indication that this rodent requires vitamin C and that its body is abIe to pro- duce the vitamin for use even though there is little or none present in the feed. A review of the literature on the subject of vitamin C does not reveal any instance on record where an experimental study has been made of the requirement of the bovine for the antiscorbutic factor. The need for definite knowledge regarding the role of the antiscorbutic vitamin in the nutrition of dairy cattle has been felt for some time both by veterinarians and by men interested in solving various problems in the field of cattle nutrition. Two outbreaks of a scurvy-like disease of cattle have