Comparative Utilization of Dietary Calcium and Strontium-90 by Pigs and Sheep

The comparative utilization of dietary calcium and of Sr90was determined in pigs and sheep under typical management conditions by balance feeding trials, radioassay for Sr90present in feedstuffs in 1958, and chemical analysis for calcium.A ration consisting of hay from crop year 1958, soybean meal and corn ranged from 74 to 93 µµc Sr90/gm. Ca. The hay contributed about 90% of the Sr90intake of the animals.The pigs started with a body burden of 3.7 µµc Sr90/gm. Ca and finished with 9.4; comparative values for the sheep were 30 and 27. For the pigs the comparative utilization of calcium and Sr90was 48 and 8.6% respectively; values for the sheep were 30 and 6.3%.In agreement with values for other species, the pigs and sheep utilized Sr90about 0.2 as effectively as calcium.