A note on hepatic vitamin A and carotene stores in West African cattle

Abstract

Conditions exist in Ghana which could implicate vitamin A deficiency as a factor in causing the poor growth and breeding difficulties observed in local cattle. Lansbury (1960) reviewed some of the limiting factors in the nutrition of cattle on the Accra plains, and stated ‘the bleached dried up appearance of the Accra plains over much of the year is due to the fact that most of the grassland is little more than standing hay from which most, if not all, of the vitamin A or its precursors are likely to have been lost’. Northern Ghana, with its longer dry season, presents such an appearance for a more extended period.