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The correlation between the ß-Carotene concentration of the diet and the ß-Carotene concentration in plasma of dairy cows is very strong (Figure 3). Plasma samples from dairy cows fed large amounts of maize silage had an average concentration of 1.1 µg/ml plasma (1µg = 1 millionth gram) which is below the optimal level of 3.5 µg/ml plasma. 75% of the samples were deficient , 23% marginal and only 1% were optimal (Figure). This shows that the natural ß-Carotene content of dairy cow rations are often too low to match their requirements, especially in early lactation.
Figure 3: Correlation between ß-Carotene
content in forage and plasma of cows
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