Vitamin Functions, Deficiencies, and souces

Vitamin A
1. Functions
  1. Functions include normal maintenance of the eyes and epithelium (membrane) tissue of the respiratory, digestive, urogenital systems, and the skin.
  2. Vitamin A is also needed for normal bone growth, body growth and normal tooth development
2. Sources
  1. Vitamin A can be provided as a synthetic vitamin or as carotene,
  2. Vitamin A itself is only present in animals, but plants contain the precursor, carotene.
  3. Carotene is found in good quality, fresh, green forages in generally sufficient amounts.
  4. Excellent sources of carotene are green, leafy hays that have been in storage less than one year; dehydrated, pelleted legume hays; and good quality grass or legume silage
  5. Other carotene sources include yellow corn, fish liver oil, dehydrated alfalfa meal and whole milk
3. Deficiencies
  1. Night blindness (inability to see in dim light) is a symptom of severe vitamin A deficiency.
    1. Vitamin A is part of the visual purple of the eye, which is depleted through the action of light.
    2. Visual purple is required for vision in dim light.
    3. Animals suffering from night blindness will recover when sufficient amounts of vitamin A are added to the diet.
    4. Animals can become permanently blind when vitamin A deficient.
  2. Excessive watering of the eyes and development of cornea ulcerations are also indications of possible vitamin A deficiency
    1. Other indications include nervous incoordination shown by a staggering gait, diarrhea, reduced appetite, poor growth and weight loss
    2. Also, unsound teeth and rough, dry skin may be a sign of vitamin A deficiency.
    3. Paralysis of some parts can occur in some species.
    4. Young animals suffer from deficiency sooner because of their greater requirements and reduced storage ability
  3. Reproductive problems include poor conception rates, reduced fertility in males, shortened gestation periods, and incressed retained placenta.
    1. In poultry, discharges from the eyes and nostrils can occur, as well as wobbly gait in chicks, reduced egg production and hatchability of eggs
Vitamin D
1. Sources
  1. Diets that include sun-cued forages generally provide sufficient vitamin D
  2. Animals regularly exposed to sunlight or ultraviolet light will not develop deficiency symptoms
  3. Green forages, barn-cured hay, and silage have some vitamin D
  4. Grain, grain by-products, and protein feeds have almost no vitamin D
2. Function
  1. Vitamin D is important for calcium absorption and phosphorus metabolism in the baody
  2. Rickets is prevented by vitamin D, along with calcium and phosphorus
  3. Vitamin D also promotes sound teeth
3. Deficiencies
  1. A shortage of vitamin D will result in rickets in young or osteoporosis in adults with insufficient calcification of the bones
  2. However, less vitamin D is required when a good balance of phosphorus and calcium is present
  3. Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency are decreased appetite, slower growth, digestive disturbances, stiffness in gait, and sometimes the developemnt of tetany and convulsions
  4. As the disease progresses, joints enlarge and become swollen and stiff
  5. Pregnant animals might give birth to dead, weak or deformed young because of vitamin D deficiency
  6. Chickens will show rickets, poor feathering and growth with a reduduction of egg production, hatchability and poor eggshells in laying hens
Vitamin E
1. Function
  1. Vitamin E functions as an antioxidant, which helps in absorption and storage of vitamin A
  2. As an antioxidant, it also acts in other metabolic functions in the cell
  3. Vitamin E is essential for the integrity of red blood cells and in cellular respiration, primary in heart and skeletal muscle tissues.
  4. It is also a regulator in the synthesis of DNA and vitamin C
2. Sources
  1. Good dietary sources of vitamin E include whole cereal grains, the germ or germ oils of cereal grains, green forages, alfalfa meal, rice polishings, wheat germ meal, and good quality hay
  2. After a long storage period, the vitamin e level in feeds declines
  3. It is rapidly destroyed when near rancid fat
  4. Vitamin E is seldom deficient in the diet unless feeds were produced on selenium-deficient soils
  5. Vitamin e is produced commercially and can be added to the diet when needed by using a vitamin premix or injecting into the muscle
3. Deficiencies
  1. Vitamin E deficiency looks similar to selenium deficiency-- white muscle disease or nutritional muscular dystrophy
  2. Hatchability of eggs is reduced, although production does not appear to be affected
  3. Extended vitamin E deficiency in poultry will cause permanent sterility in the male and reproductive failure in the female
  4. The addition of selenium to the diet can prevent some symptoms of vitamin E deficiency
Vitamin K
1. Sources
  1. Dietary sources of vitamin K include green, leafy feeds (either fresh or dry); fish meal; liver; and soybeans
  2. Vitamin K usually widely available in normal farm rations, and is synthesized by all classes of farm animals
  3. However, it is common to add vitamin K to swine diets and chick starter rations
2. Deficiencies
  1. Vitamin deficiencies K rarely occur because it is synthesized in the rumen and in the intestinal tract of monogastric animals.
  2. Feeding moldy feeds with high dicoumarol content, such as moldy sweet clover, might cause a vitamin K deficiency
  3. This can lead to bleeding syndrome called sweet clover poisoning or bleeding disease
  4. Moldy feeds wit high dicoumarol content fed to swine or poultry will also cause internal bleeding and death
  5. Feeding vitamin K or water-soluble synthetic forms of the vitamin will counteract deficiency effects.
3. Function
  1. Vitamin K is necessary for the formation of prothrombin in the blood, which helps blood clot

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Vitamin Functions, Deficiencies, and souces

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