Premium
IRON IN RUMINANT NUTRITION
Author(s) -
Underwood EJ,
Morgan EH
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1963.24
Subject(s) - ferritin , ruminant , zoology , iron status , chemistry , total iron binding capacity , transferrin saturation , iron levels , saturation (graph theory) , serum iron , biology , iron deficiency , food science , serum ferritin , biochemistry , endocrinology , medicine , agronomy , anemia , hemoglobin , pasture , mathematics , combinatorics
SUMMARY The concentrations of total liver storage (non‐haem) iron, of the forms of this iron, and of plasma iron and total iron‐binding capacity, were determined in healthy adult sheep and cattle of both sexes. Individual variability in total non‐haem liver iron and in the water‐soluble (presumably ferritin) and water‐insoluble (haemosiderin) fractions of this iron was found to be high in both sexes of both species. Differences between the sexes were not significant but total storage iron and ferritin iron levels were significantly higher in sheep than in cattle. From two‐thirds to three‐quarters of the total storage iron occurred in water‐soluble form. This was assumed to be ferritin, although attempts to isolate this compound were unsuccessful. Plasma iron and total iron‐binding capacity concentrations and percentage saturation values were found to be of the same order as those found previously for sheep and cattle and for other species. Evidence was obtained that plasma iron concentrations and percentage saturation values are significantly higher in ewes than in rams.