XIII. REQUIREMENTS 521 



D. OF RUMINANTS 



THOMAS H. JUKrOS and WILLIAM L. WILLIAMS 



Til many parts of the world it has loiifj; been recognized that ruminants 

 are subjot-t to a characteristic nutritional delicieiujy disease which in 

 193563, 64 ^yjjg yhown to be due to a lack of col)alt. A lack of adequate 

 quantities of available cobalt in the soil leads to a low content of this ele- 

 ment in t\)rage and other crops which is rellected in a malady occurring in 

 sheep and cattle which subsist on tlipse crops. The disease is variously 

 and colloquially known in different localities as salt sickness, pining, coast 

 disease, and bush sickness. 



The observation that cobalt was effective by mouth but not by injection^* 

 led to the suggestion that cobalt produced the response by acting upon 

 some of the microorganisms in the rumen. ^* Xon-ruminants are not known 

 to be subject to the disease ;*^^ indeed, horses and rabbits can grow and 

 reproduce on the forage crops grown in the deficient areas without the 

 appearance of dietary disturbance. It now appears that ruminants suffering 

 from the disease respond to injections of vitamin B12. 



The deficiency in sheep has been described as being characterized by loss 

 of appetite, listlessness, anemia, lethargy, and weakness terminating in 

 death. The pathological examination at autopsy has shown nothing specific, 

 although hemosiderosis of the liver, spleen, and pancreas has often been 

 noted.®* Filmer®^ reported that the feeding of ^\•hole liver would cure the 

 disease in cattle and sheep although it was later concluded that liver con- 

 tained insufficient cobalt to account for its beneficial effect.^" Presumably 

 cobalt in the form of vitamin Bi> might be quantitativelj^ more effective 

 than elemental cobalt in the oral treatment of the disease in ruminants, 

 thus accounting for these results with the feeding of liver. 



The first experiments with vitamin Bij were inconclusive, apparently as 

 a result of underdosage,"'^^ and led to wrong interpretations. The responses 

 obtained in pernicious anemia with as little as 1 7 of vitamin B12 dail\'' 

 may ha\'e led to underestimation of the vitamin B12 requirement of rumi- 



«3 H. R. Marston and E. W. L. Lines, J. Council Sci. Ind. Research 8, 11 (1935). 

 " E. J. Underwood and J. F. Filmer, AustraUan Vet. J. 11, 84 (1935). 

 *' C. J. Martin, cited by McCance and Widdowson, 1944 (ref. 66). 

 6s K. .\. McCance and E. M. Widdowson, Ann. Her. Biochem. 13, 315 (1944), 

 «7 J. F. Thompson and G. H. Ellis, J. Xulrition 34, 121 (1947). 

 «» H. R. Marston, Ann. Rev. Biochem. 8, 570 (1939). 

 •9 J. F. Filmer, Australian Vet. J. 9, 163 (1933). 



" J. F. Filmer and E. J. Underwood, Australian Vet. J. 13, 57 (1937). 

 " H. R. Marston and H. J. Lee, Nature 164, 529 (1949). 

 " D. E. Becker, S. E. Smith, and J. K. Loosli, Science 110. 71 (1949). 

 •» W. H. Hale, A. L. Pope, P. 11. Phillips, and G. J. Bohstodt, /. Animal Sci. 8, 621 

 (1949). 



