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Zinc and Dry Matter Content of Tissues and Feces of Zinc-Deficient and Normal Ruminants Fed Ethylenediaminetetraacetate and Cadmium¹

Dairy Science Department and School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens

ABSTRACT

In experiments involving 18 male Holstein calves and 17 male goats, zinc and dry matter content of various tissues were studied in zinc-deficient and normal animals fed purified diets containing either: no additive, 300 ppm EDTA (as disodium EDTA), or 350 ppm cadmium (as CdCl₂). All of the animals were given the same low zinc (4 ppm zinc) purified diet beginning seven days before fecal collections were initiated and 21 days before tissue samples were obtained. None of the normal animals exhibited any zinc deficiency symptoms. Addition of EDTA to the diet had little effect on fecal zinc excretions or zinc content of most tissues studied. Feeding cadmium increased fecal excretion of zinc in calves but not in the goats which were more mature. Livers of cadmium-fed zinc-deficient calves had an increased concentration of zinc, but this phenomenon was not observed in goat livers. The zinc content of heart, lung, kidney, spleen, testicles, muscle, and bone was not consistently or materially affected by cadmium feeding. Neither EDTA nor cadmium had much effect on dry matter content of most tissues. Differences in tissue zinc level between zinc-deficient and normal animals, in most instances, were nonsignificant. Samples from the epiphyseal-diaphyseal junction of tibia from zinc-deficient calves contained less dry matter than those from normal calves.

¹ University of Georgia College of Agriculture Experiment Stations, Journal Paper no. 91, College Station, Athens. Supported in part by PHS Research Grant no. AM-07367-NTN from the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases.