Sterine in Weidegräsern

During the course of investigations concerned with a cattle disease (Weidekrankheit) in Austrian alpine regions, it became of interest to examine the sterol fractions of some typical grasing plants, since it seemed possible that a biological connection exists between the phytosterols, Vitamin D and related compounds and the cause of the Weidekrankheit.The sterol contents of eight different species of Austrian alpine grasses especially of Trisetum flavescens, were studied by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry. All contained sitosterol as the main component, besides cholesterol, campesterol, stigmasterol, ⁷-cholestenol and ^{7,24 (28)}-stigmastadienol.The aim of this examination was to establish whether there is an influence of fertilizing on the content of the above mentioned compounds: no remarkable difference between the sterol contents of fertilized and non-fertilized grasses could be found.