Major and Trace Minerals & Deficiency

Minerals: Major vs. Trace Elements

• Major elements include Calcium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Sulphur, Sodium, Chlorine, and Magnesium
• Trace elements include Iron, Iodine, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, and Cobalt

Contents of Presentation

• Copper deficiency
• Cobalt deficiency
• Zinc deficiency
• Iodine deficiency

Copper Deficiency

• Primary deficiency occurs in sandy soil
• Secondary deficiency occurs in peat or muck soils
• Feed, and water may contain molybdenum, sulfate, and iron salts interfere with copper metabolism
• Can be congenital in newborns if the dam is deficient

Importance of Copper

• Required for cytochrome oxidase for tissue oxidation and metabolic activities
• Part of Ceruloplasmin or Cu protein complex
• Functions as Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and antioxidant enzyme
• Important for amine oxidase involved in neuron metabolism
• Required for tyrosinase in melanin pigment formation
• Important for lysyl oxidase for collagen, fiber, and connective tissue integrity
• Important for ferroxidase needed for reutilization of Fe from normal RBCs destruction (haem) for new RBCs

Copper Deficiency

• Primary: Deficient soil, plants, pasture
• Chelating agent prevents availability for plants.
• Secondary: Chelating agent prevents absorption, utilization, or storage of Cu
• Excessive Mo: (Cu-thiomolybdate)
• Excessive inorganic S in feed or water
• Excessive Ca, Fe, Se, and Zn
• Alkaline soils, liver, and parasitic diseases

Copper Deficiency in the Rumen

• Mo + S form thiomolybdate, which binds with Cu, forming Cu-thiomolybdate (insoluble)
• Cu-thiomolybdate prevents Cu absorption from the GIT
• It also decreases Cu uptake by the liver and other tissues
• Cu-thiomolybdate increases Cu excretion in kidney and urine

Clinical Signs of Copper Deficiency (Cattle)

• Ill thriftiness, emaciation, or wasting (+Co)
• Anemia (pale mm, lethargy, dry skin)
• Infertility & locomotor disturbance
• Pine (weak calf + enlarged joints)
• Peat scour (profuse watery diarrhea, yellow-green to black, non-offensive odor)
• Achromotrichia or spectacle appearance
• Falling disease (ataxia then sudden death)

Copper Deficiency Syndromes in Cattle

Subclinical Hypocuprosis

• Silent heat with low production of milk or meat
• Infertility

Falling Disease

• Throwing up their heads with bellowing
• Falling on sides
• Struggling weakly and failure to rise
• Sudden death usually occurs

Peat Scours (teart) - Cattle & Sheep

• Persistent profuse watery diarrhea without effort, tenesmus, or dysentery
• Yellowish-green to black feces, non-offensive
• Good appetite with severe debilitation
• Rough hair coat with depigmentation of hair or wool, bleached color around eyes (spectacle)
• Signs appear 8-10 days after feeding on peat or muck soil

Ill Thriftiness

• Pine of calves (yellow calf)
• Loss of body weight & emaciation
• Stiffness of gait
• Enlargement of metacarpal & metatarsal
• Painful bones with lameness
• Depigmentation, bleaching of hair (eyes)
• Diarrhea in some cases

Clinical Signs of Copper Deficiency (Sheep)

• Steely, crimbless or stringy wool
• Achromotrichia or spectacle
• Swayback or enzootic ataxia
• Incoordination, ataxia, dragging hindquarters
• Anemia: pale mm, increase HR and RR
• Diarrhea

Copper Deficiency Syndromes in Sheep & Goats

Swayback Disease

• Congenital: lambs born dead or weak and dead 3-4 days
• Delayed: in suckling lambs after birth (2-4 weeks of age)
• Severe ataxia & incoordination
• Blindness (D.D. with Vit. A. def. & CCN)
• Paralysis, recumbency
• Death within 3-4 days

Enzootic Ataxia in Older Lambs

• Occurs in lambs 6-8 weeks up to 6 months of age
• Incoordination of hind limbs
• Increased respiratory & heart rates by exertion
• Excessive flexion of joints and knuckling
• Unsteady movement of hindquarters
• The hindlimbs are affected and dragging initially
• Recumbency occurs if the forelimbs are also affected
• Death occurs due to prolonged recumbency & inanition
• Paresis is responsible for signs of a dog-setting posture

Wool Production

• Wool is glossy, crimpless, straight, steely and easily broken
• Black wool can be depigmented to gray or white

Additional Syndromes

• Peat Scour (as in cattle)
• Anemia, ill thriftiness, infertility, osteoporosis, & growth retardation

Lab & Necropsy for Copper Deficiency

• Low serum copper & Ceruloplasmin
• Normal serum copper 0.7-1.3 (ug/mL) & Ceruloplasmin 45-100 mg/L
• Anemia, emaciation
• Hemosiderosis
• Demyelination of nerve fiber
• Myocardiopathy

Differential Diagnosis of Copper Deficiency

• Diseases causing locomotor disturbance
  • White muscle disease
  • Rickets or osteomalacia
  • Musculoskeletal disorders
• Diseases causing diarrhea
  • Bacterial (salmonellosis, clostridia, johnes' disease)
  • Viral (Rota and Corona)
  • Parasitic gastroenteritis, coccidiosis
• Alopecia: (endocrine or nutritional deficiency of Co, Zn, I or Vit. A)

Treatment of Copper Deficiency

• Hopeless cases (cardiac or nervous signs): no treatment
• Oral Dosing with Cu sulphate or chloride once weekly for 4-6 weeks
• Increases hepatic store of Cu and prevent recurrence
  • Cow: 8 gm
  • Calf: 4 gm
  • Ewe: 2 gm
  • Lamb: 1 gm
• Single S/C injection of Cu glycinate
  • Cow: 400 mg
  • Calf: 50 mg
  • Ewe: 150 mg
  • Lamb: 25 mg
• If injected I/M, severe local reaction can predispose to black leg in cattle

Prevention of Copper Deficiency

• Oral dosing with CuSO4 once weekly
  • 5g for pregnant cow & 1g for pregnant ewe
• Oral dosing with CuSO4 twice weekly
  • 35 mg for lambs and 100 mg for calves
• Mineral mixture or salt blocks containing CuSO4
  • 0.5% for sheep and 2% for cattle
• S/C injection by Cu glycinate
• Top dressing of pastures with CuSO4

Cobalt Deficiency

• Associated with white liver disease (WLD), hepatic lipidosis, pine or wasting disease (+Cu), and coat disease

History and Signs of Cobalt Deficiency

• Soils are deficient in Co or high in Ca
• Inappetence, gradual loss of body weight, pica, clear alopecia
• Marked pale mucous membranes
• Decreased wool and milk production
• Decreased lambing percentage

Signs (Simplified)

• Poor growth rates (small size and poor body condition score)
• Lethargy (ill-thrift)
• Poor appetite
• Tear staining (damp and matted wool below the eyes)
• Anemia (poor quality wool)
• Immune suppression (increased risk of clostridial disease, pasteurellosis, worms etc)
• Emaciation and death

Lab & Necropsy for Cobalt Deficiency

• Serum Co reduced (normal: 0.17-0.51 umol/L)
• Decrease serum vitamin B12 than 0.20 mg/mL
• Methylmalonic acid in plasma and urine
• Formiminoglutamic acid in urine
• Anemia (normocytic normochromic)
• Emaciation, greyish color of liver
• Hemosiderosis of spleen

Differential Diagnosis of Cobalt Deficiency

• Common causes of ill-thrift in ruminants:
• • Copper deficiency
  • General nutritional deficiency (protein and energy)
  • Johne’s disease
  • Intestinal helminthiasis
• Causes of alopecia

Treatment and Control of Cobalt Deficiency

• Combine cobalt with anthelmintic drugs
• Parenteral injections of vitamin B12
• Dietary supplementation with cobalt
• Cobalt heavy pellets intraruminal

Zinc Deficiency

• Associated with parakeratosis and wool eating disease

History of Zinc Deficiency

• Nitrogen fertilizer use
• Late-cut hay (aged) or immature grasses
• Alkaline soil with high phosphorus content influence zinc deficiency

Signs of Zinc Deficiency

• Alopecia over muzzle, ears, tail-head, hind legs, flank, and neck.
• Stiff gait and swelling over coronets
• Loss of wool and thickened skin with skin lesions.

Lab & Necropsy/Differential Diagnosis of Zinc Deficiency

• Serum zinc levels reduced (normal: 12.2-18.2 umol/L)
• Parakeratosis
• External parasites (Mange): skin scraping test to rule out
• Other causes of nutritional alopecia

Treatment and Control of Zinc Deficiency

• Supplement zinc in the diet
• Injection of zinc at 2-4 mg/kg BW daily for 10 days
• Oral administration of zinc at the rate of 250 mg zinc sulfate for adult sheep daily for 4 weeks

Iodine Deficiency

• Associated with Goiter and Hypothyroidism
• Characterized clinically by high mortalities, alopecia, and goiter (visible enlargement of the thyroid gland)

History of Iodine Deficiency

• High intake of calcium
• Diets consisting largely of Brassica spp
• Gross bacterial pollution of feedstuffs or drinking water
• Diets of dams deficient in iodine or high in goitrogenic substances

Signs of Iodine Deficiency

• Goiter as a palpable enlargement of the thyroid gland
• Neonatal mortality due to stillbirths
• Weak neonates that may not be able to suck and die in a few days
• Alopecia at birth
• Myxedema

Lab & Necropsy for Iodine Deficiency

• Blood iodine levels reduced
• Thyroid hormones reduced
• TSH increased
• Thyroid enlargement, alopecia, myxedema (swelling and dryness of the skin especially around the nose and lips)

Differential Diagnosis of Iodine Deficiency

• Diseases of abortion and stillbirth
• Congenital defects
• Hypothyroidism
• Causes of alopecia

Treatment and Control of Iodine Deficiency

• Treatment: Not usually undertaken because of the high case fatality rate
• Control: Ensure dietary intake of iodine in pregnant animals, avoid goitrogenic substances

Multi-factorial Case Example

• Sheep flock (fattening lambs), confined (no grazing), fed on straw with very low amount of corn and bran only without any vitamins and minerals premixes
• Sheep showed achromotrichia, alopecia, wool & mud eating (pica), skin fissuring and cracking, lameness, ill thriftiness, emaciation and diarrhea
• Dead and slaughtered sheep contain foreign bodies as robes, plastics, calcified wool balls in rumen, blocked intestine

Treatment and prevention for multi-factorial case example

• Injection of Minarin® (Zn, Mn, Cu and Se)
• Injection of Fercobsang® (Co, Fe, Vit B3, 12)
• AD3E®, Cafosal®, Duphalyte® injection
• Anthelmintics (ecto-endoparasiticides) + antidiarrheal
• Adjustment of ration (quantity & quality), good quality roughages and concentrates
• Supplementation of ration with minerals and vitamins premixes and all additives for sheep
• Minerals or salts blocks (ad libitum)

Case 1

• Yearling growing calves flock, grazing on pasture rich in molybdenum shows progressive emaciation, stiffness of gait, enlargement of costochondral junction, watery diarrhea (yellow green to black), inoffensive odor, hair coat is rough, depigmentation around eyes, and a good appetite

Case 2

• Dairy cattle, grazing on pasture rich in molybdenum are presented with watery diarrhea (yellow green to black), inoffensive odor. The hair is rough with depigmentation around the eyes. Good appetite with emaciation.

Case 3

• A flock of dairy cattle grazing on pasture grown on muck soil are presented with odorless-dark greenish diarrhea without effort
• The hair coat became steely with depigmentation
• Affected animals are emaciated despite having a good appetite

Case 4

• A 6-month-old lamb suffers from abnormal skin (alopecia, fissuring & cracking) of the neck, muzzle and back of hind limb with poor growth and wool eating

Case 5

• Goat shows profuse watery greenish non-offensive diarrhea
• also dragging of limbs with flexion of joints, alopecia & bleached color around eyes

Case 6

• Newly born lamb is suffering from weakness, alopecia & enlargement of thyroid gland
• The lamb dam was raised on a diet rich in soybean

Case 7

• Goat showing emaciation, clean alopecia, very pale color of mucous membranes and lacrimation