Abstract
Beef cattle were examined whether there are selenium and tocopherol deficiencies during the fetal stage or not. The results are as follows: Serum selenium levels of eight Holstein calves and their dams which were fed with a diet of high-content selenium and tocopherol were higher than 35 ppb. Serum tocopherol levels of the dams were over 150μg/100ml.
Eighty-Seven decimal five % of the fetuses and calves of beef cattle which were fed with a diet of lowcontent selenium showed low serum selenium levels under 20 ppb.α-tocopherol levels in the liver of beef calves were lower than those of Holstein calves. Eighty-seven decimal five % of the dams showed low-serum selenium levels under 20 ppb. One of the beef calves that died immediately after birth showed degenerative changes in the skeletal muscles.
From the above findings, all of the fetuses and calves of the beef cattle showd deficient levels in serum selenium and tocopherol and it was suggested that the deficiencies might be caused by a lack of selenium and tocopherol intake by their dams.
