Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-21T09:59:17.707Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Retention by sheep of copper from aerobic digests of pig faecal slurry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

A. C. Dalgarno  and
C. F. Mills
A. C. Dalgarno
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
C. F. Mills
Affiliation:
Rowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen, AB2 9SB
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Dried grass originating from a farm on which herbage had been repeatedly dressed with faecal slurry from pigs given diets containing 250 mg copper/kg had a very variable, but frequently high content of copper. A maximum content of 70 mg Cu/kg dry matter was found. The mean copper content of growing herbage sampled subsequent to this finding was 10·5 mg/kg, while residues of slurry on the soil surface contained 805 mg Cu/kg.

In an experiment involving three groups of eight sheep the utilization and hepatic retention of copper from the solid residues of an aerobic digest of high-copper faecal slurry from pigs was investigated. When these residues constituted 1 or 2% of the dietary dry-matter intake of copper-deficient sheep, rapid increases in plasma copper content, in plasma ferroxidase I activity and in hepatic copper content occurred. Thus copper from this source was readily utilized and retained.

The utilization of copper added to the diet as cupric sulphate was compared with that of copper from dried slurry solids in an experiment with two groups of four sheep. Although the rate of recovery of plasma copper and ferroxidase I activity tended to be slower in sheep given slurry solids this difference was not statistically significant. A significantly slower rate of increase in hepatic copper content resulted from the ingestion of slurry solids.

The significance of these findings is discussed with particular respect to the inadvertent ingestion of residues from the soil surface of pastures dressed with slurry and from the variable inclusion of such residues in herbage uplifted during forage harvesting.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 85 , Issue 1 , August 1975 , pp. 11 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1975

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anon. (1972). Agricultural Development and Advisory Service, Results of experiments at Experimental Husbandry Farms, no. 2, pp. 15–17. London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.Google Scholar
Bowland, J. P., Braude, R., Chamberlain, A. G., Glasscock, R. F. & Mitchell, K. G. (1961). The absorption, distribution and excretion of labelled copper in young pigs given different quantities, as sulphate or sulphide orally or intravenously. British Journal of Nutrition 15, 59–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bracewell, C. D. (1958). A note on jaundice in housed sheep. Veterinary Record 70, 342–4.Google Scholar
Braude, R. (1967). Copper as a stimulant in pig feeding. World Review of Animal Production 3, 69–82.Google Scholar
Davis, G. K. (1974). High-level copper feeding of swine and poultry. Federation Proceedings: Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology 33, 1194–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Feenstra, P. & Van Ulsen, F. W. (1973). Hay as a cause of copper poisoning in sheep. Tijdschrift voor Diergeneeskunde 98 632–3.Google Scholar
Field, A. C. & Purves, D. (1964). The intake of soil by the grazing sheep. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 23, xxiv–xxv.Google Scholar
Healy, W. B. & Ludwig, T. G. (1965). Wear of sheep's teeth. 1. The role of ingested soil. New Zealand Journal of Agricultural Research 8, 737–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Houchin, O. B. (1958). Rapid colorimetric method for the quantitative determination of copper oxidase activity (caeruloplasmin). Clinical Chemistry 74, 519–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirchgessner, M., Weser, U. & Friesecke, H. (1963). Trace elements in the metabolism of growing pigs given different amounts of copper. Zeitschrift fūr Tierphysiologie, Tierernahrung und Futtermittelkunde 18, 181–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosemore, R. M. (1969). Hazards to health. Veterinary Record 84, 280–2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAllister, J. S. V. (1973). Resource Management – Farm Effluents in Intensive Agriculture and the Environment. C.I.C.R.A. Symposium, pp. 71–9. Dublin: An Foras Taluntais.Google Scholar
Meteorological Office (1972). Monthly weather summaries, Aberdeen (Dyce), June–Aug., 1972. Bracknell: Meteorological Office.Google Scholar
Phillippo, M. (1973). A technique for liver biopsy in sheep. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 80, 313–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Price, J. & Suttle, N. F. (1974). The availability to sheep of copper in pig slurry and slurry-dressed herbage. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 33, 9A–10A.Google Scholar
Rice, E. W. (1962). Standardization of caeruloplasmin activity in terms of international enzyme units. Oxidative formation of Bandrowski's base from p-phenylenediamine by caeruloplasmin. Analytical Biochemistry 3, 452–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robertson, A. M. (1973). The treatment of animal wastes. Farm building progress 32, 13–18.Google Scholar
Suttle, N. F. (1974). A technique for measuring the biological availability of copper to sheep using hypocupraemic ewes. British Journal of Nutrition 32, 295–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Suttle, N. F. & Field, A. C. (1968). Effect of intake of copper, molybdenum and sulphate on copper metabolism in sheep. Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics 78, 351–61.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Todd, J. R. (1969). Chronic copper toxicity of ruminants. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 28, 189–98.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Underwood, E. J. (1971). Trace elements in human and animal nutrition, 3rd ed.New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Woodside, J. D. (1973). Copper poisoning from pig slurry – is there a risk? Agriculture in Northern Ireland 48, 52–4.Google Scholar