The availability of iron in certain grass, clover and herb species. I. Perennial ryegrass, cocksfoot and timothy

Abstract

1. The availability of iron in three species of grass has been investigated using the rat as the experimental animal.2. Two procedures, namely, the increase in blood haemoglobin concentration, and the gain in total gramme of haemoglobin by nutritionally anaemic rats were employed.3. Inorganic iron, as ferric chloride, was shown to be significantly more available than the iron contained in the three grasses.4. The iron in the grass timothy was found to be significantly more available than that in ryegrass or cocksfoot.5. Possible reasons for the differences in iron availability were discussed.