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U.S. Department of Energy
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Cadmium toxicity in sheep

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:5225338
Forty Hampshire cross ram lambs, approximately four months old were allotted by weight into five lots of eight and fed ad libitum diets containing 0, 5, 15, 30, and 60 ..mu..g/g of added cadmium for 137 d. At the end of the 137 d two animals from each group were reallotted into two groups of five sheep and fed the basal diet with either 160 or 213 ..mu..g/g of added cadmium for a further 87 d and then slaughtered. All other animals were slaughtered after 191 d and tissue samples collected. Dietary cadmium significantly decreased feed intake in the 15, 30, and 60 ..mu..g/g treatments and body weight gain in the 30 and 60 ..mu..g/g treatments. Apparent absorption of cadmium, zinc, iron, copper, and manganese in the 60 ..mu..g/g treatment was 5%, -9%, 12%, 25%, and 3% respectively. Urinary excretion of all elements was 1.5% or less of total excretion, while calculated biliary excretion was 8% or less of total fecal excretion.
Research Organization:
Missouri Univ., Columbia (USA)
OSTI ID:
5225338
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English