The Nutrition of the Young Ayrshire Calf

The muscular dystrophy of calves caused by giving cod-liver oil (Blaxter, Wood & MacDonald, 1953), the unsaturated acids of cod-liver oil (Blaxter, Brown & Mac-Donald, 1953b) or rations containing lard (Blaxter, Watts & Wood, 1952) may be prevented by giving a-tocopherol.The mode of action of a-tocopherol in these diseases is unknown.A reasonable supposition, however, is that it acts simply as an anti-oxidant, possibly protecting the animal against the toxicity of unsaturated fatty acids.If this were so, other antioxidants S g h t be equally effective.The efficacies of ascorbic acid, ethyl gallate, methylene blue and biotin have therefore been compared with that of a-tocopheryl acetate in preventing the muscular dystrophy induced by giving cod-liver oil to calves.It has been claimed (Hjarre & Lilleengen, 1936a, b) that enzootic muscular dystrophy is due to ascorbic-acid deficiency.This is unlikely, for reasons discussed elsewhere (Blaxter & Brown, 1952-3).It is of interest, however, that ascorbic acid is