16 MISC. PUBLICATION 3 6 9, U. S. DEFT. OF AGRICULTURE 



The clinical aspects of a deficiency disease in sheep in Western 

 Australia have been studied by Bennetts (64), who reported in 1937 

 that copper seemed to be the limiting factor. In their investigations 

 of the soils in this district Hosking and Greaves (279) state: "The 

 presence of this deficiency disease (enzootic ataxia) is closely associa- 

 ted in Gingen with any soil underlain by Cretaceous rocks." Country 

 adjacent that is underlain by granite and gneiss is apparently un- 

 affected, although " recent investigations show that the disease some- 

 times occurs on granitic formations." 



Indications of a copper deficiency in Florida forages was reported 

 by Becker, Neal, and Shealy (51) in 1931. These investigators stated 

 that sometimes copper in addition to iron was necessary in order to 

 prevent or to cure salt sickness. 



In 1934, Svanberg (544) discussed the environmental relationships 

 of an anemia of horses grazing on the very acid soils of northern 

 Sweden. The pH value of these soils was found to be about 4.8 or less, 

 and they are described as being sterile alum soils (546). Over com- 

 paratively large areas these soils are used for hay production and the 

 crops serve as horse fodder. Although most of the major constitu- 

 ents and the iron, aluminum, and copper contents of the forages are 

 normal, the manganese content is strikingly high, often 10 times as 

 much in abnormal as in normal areas. Svanberg states that favorable 

 natural conditions under which anemia in horses will not occur seem 

 to include a soil rich in lime and containing not too much manganese. 



Further investigations of this disease of Swedish horses by Carlstrom 

 and Hjarre (105) in 1938 have attempted to show a relationship be- 

 tween vitamin B x and manganese. Carlstrom and Hjarre claim that 

 this anemia is 



due to an insufficient content of vitamin Bj in the hay and this insufficiency is 

 probably caused by too large a proportion of manganese in the hay. Everything 

 leads to the belief, in effect, that this element destroys through oxidation the 

 vitamin Bj of the hay. 



Further investigations will no doubt be necessary to clarify many 

 of the factors involved in the occurrence of this disease. 



Studies of the Relation of Soils to "Lecksucht" 



A relationship between some property or properties of soils and 

 the occurrence of a disturbance in cattle in Europe, known as lecksucht, 

 has long been suspected (287, 288, 289, 296, 297, 318, 346, 435, 448, 

 457, 4?0 > 5%4i 545, 564)- I n some districts it was reported that the 

 poor soils were developed from granites or mottled sandstone, whereas 

 the unaffected or good soils were derived from gneiss. In other areas 

 the poor soils were peaty in character and were low in potassium as 

 well as in phosphorus, and the acidity was reported as being quite 

 high. 



Sjollema (526, 527) reported in 1933 that the copper content of 

 hay-fed cows suffering from what he calls lecksucht was much less 

 than that fed cows in good health. Nicolaisen and Seelbach (437) in 

 1938 reported that the application of copper sulfate to pastures not 

 only improved the pastures but also the health of the animals suffering 

 from what they also refer to as lecksucht. 



