Effect of diets low in calcium and phosphorus on the development of growing lambs

Abstract

SUMMARYFive groups of four 8-week-old Blackface lambs were used to compare the effects of dietary deficiencies of calcium and/or phosphorus: four were given for 16 weeks a semi-purified diet low in Ca (0·07 %) and P (0·13 %), either unsupplemented (LCaLP) or supplemented with 0·3 % Ca (NCaLP), 0·3 % P (LCaNP) or both (NCaNP), and the remaining group was slaughtered initially.The only clinical abnormality observed was twisting of the forelegs in group LCaLP. Food intake was depressed by 26 % in LCaNP group, by 41·5 % in NCaLP group but was largely unaffected in group LCaLP. Apparent D.M. digestibility was lower for group NCaLP (57·7 %) than for other groups (61·2 %). Differences in live weight and body fat reflected the differences in food intake between treatments but the weights of fat-free body components were lowest in the groups given low P diets.The LCaNP diet decreased plasma Ca and increased plasma P but the NCaLP diet had the opposite effects. The LCaLP diet had no effect on plasma Ca and decreased plasma P less than the NCaLP diot.The three mineral deficient diets caused equally marked decreases in Ca and P retention but did not induce negative balances; they also impaired the quality of bone in the tibia and lumbar vertebra, by reducing both the amount of bone matrix and the degree to which it was mineralized, and produced histological lesions of rickets and osteoporosis. Diets low in P caused a marked fall in Mg content of the skeleton.Urolithiasis was common in lambs given diets adequate in P.