This eighty-four–day study explored the interaction of vitamin A and zinc on growth performance, carcass merit, and trace mineral metabolism in Angus-crossbred steers. Previous research has indicated removal of vitamin A from finishing diets improves carcass merit. In this study, removing vitamin A supplementation increased the percentage of carcasses grading average Choice or above, but reduced feed efficiency. Dietary vitamin A and zinc concentrations impacted circulating retinol and zinc concentrations. These findings suggest a trade-off between increased carcass merit and reduced feed efficiency with the removal of vitamin A supplementation, but also indicate there are micronutrient interactions between vitamin A, zinc, copper, iron, and manganese that require further research in beef cattle.

Read the full article in the Journal of Animal Science.