Technical note: forms and route of vitamin C supplementation for cows.
The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of multiple oral supplementation of two forms of vitamin C on plasma ascorbic acid concentrations in dairy cows. Vitamin C was administrated at the rate of 40 g/d during a 5-d period. The supplements were vitamin C in the form of a fine powder and vitamin C coated with ethyl cellulose. In addition, another group of cows provided with vitamin C in the form of fine powder through an abomasal fistula was enrolled in the study. The effect of vitamin C supplementation was assessed by the change in plasma ascorbic acid concentrations during a 5-d period of vitamin C supplementation. A tendency existed for cows that were dosed with vitamin C in the abomasum to have higher ascorbic acid than cows supplemented orally. In the abomasum-dosed cows, plasma ascorbic acid value varied between 3.6 and 4.4 micrograms/ml; the maximum ascorbic acid content was 4.4 micrograms/ml at 54 h. Cows dosed orally with vitamin C coated with ethyl cellulose had higher plasma ascorbic acid concentrations than did cows that received vitamin C in the form of fine powder. In the former group, the maximum ascorbic acid concentration occurred at 30 h after dosing (5 micrograms/ml).
Hidiroglou
M
M
Centre for Food and Animal Research, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
D000018:Abomasum; D000818:Animals; D001205:Ascorbic Acid / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000097:blood; D002417:Cattle / Q000502:physiology*; D002482:Cellulose / Q000031:analogs & derivatives; D019587:Dietary Supplements; D004304:Dosage Forms; D005260:Female; D011208:Powders; D012417:Rumen
D004304:Dosage Forms; D011208:Powders; C013517:ethyl cellulose; D002482:Cellulose; D001205:Ascorbic Acid