September 1955]           A. MARIAKULANDAI AND P. VENKATARAMAIAH             191

From Table VI it will be seen that calf No. 5 had retained more fluorine than
calf No. 4 per kilogram body weight. Percentage retained by calves No. 4 and No. 5
from the total 'Na-Fluorine' fed is presented in the last column of the above
Table. Calf No. 4 of the bone meal group retained 26 per cent of the fluorine fed
from sodium fluoride while calf No. 5 retained 34 per cent; the difference of 8 per
cent lesser storage in the former, being due to bonemeal feeding.

The retention values obtained by the direct method of working out the balance
in the carcass agreed very closely with those obtained in the indirect method.
In both the methods of assessing the retention, the bonemeal group was found to
retain 8 per cent lesser fluorine. Within individual metabolism discrepancies,
the agreement was very close in the percentage retention obtained by either method
of working the fluorine balances, though the indirect method was during the life
period, full four months before the same balance was done directly in the carcase of
the animals. These duplicate values obtained for fluorine retention, by entirely
two different methods of approach showed the lower retention of fluorine in bone-
meal-fed animal.

Bonemeal amelioration

From the live weight chart (Fig. 1), it will be seen clearly that bonemeal
did not prevent retardation of growth in the case of group II animals. As the
initial one ounce dose of bonemeal was found to be ineffective the dosage was in-
creased to 2 ounces and finally to 3 ounces per day during the experiment but to
no avail.

The inherent smell of bonemeal which became too repellent even at 3 ounce
dosage in the concentrate mixture was the chief factor, which stood against any
further increase in bonemeal dosage. Anyway to see whether the bonemeal supple-
ment was adequate in supplementing Ca and P, 40 days after the increase to 3 ounces
of bonemeal, a mineral metabolism experiment for calcium and phosphorus was
conducted on the six calves for four days. The intake, excretion and balance of
these two essential elements are summarised in Table VII.

                                TABLE VII

  Consolidated balance table for calcium and phosphorus

27 AR/55                                                                                                                       5