To obtain basic data of serum retinol and β-carotene in Japanese black calves in KagoshimaPrefecture, Japan, blood samples were obtained from 633 clinically healthy calves on 29 farms and 13 cases withsymptoms of respiratory disease calves. Calves were divided into 6 stages: the early suckling stage (between10 and 45 days of age, n = 103), late suckling stage (between 46 and 90 days of age, n = 115), the first growingstage (between 91 and 135 days of age, n = 105), the second growing stage (between 136 and 180 days of age,n = 113), the third growing stage (between 181 and 225 days of age, n = 96) and the fourth growing stage(between 226 and 270 days of age, n = 101). The mean serum concentrations of retinol were above 15 μg/dL inthe late suckling stage and in all growing stages. On the other hand, the mean concentrations of retinol in earlysuckling stage and concentrations of retinol in all cases with respiratory disease were below 15 μg/dL. The meanserum concentrations of β-carotene in all stages were between 50 and 85 μg/dL and concentrations ofβ-carotene in all cases were between 15 and 144 μg/dL (average 54.4). These results suggest that the bloodparameters obtained in this study are considered useful as one of data to clarify reference values of Japaneseblack calves.
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