Abstract
The approach to magnetic saturation has been used to estimate the magnetic anisotropy in single-crystal La0.73Ba0.27MnO3 and polycrystalline La0.5Sr0.5CoO3, and these estimates are compared with those found from the measured coercive field. While this analysis confirms the order-of-magnitude discrepancy between these two estimates reported previously and linked, via the enhanced anisotropic magnetostrictive behaviour, to a field-induced low- to high-spin state transition of the Co ion, it also indicates that such discrepancies may be a ubiquitous feature of these transition metal oxides, occurring in systems where orbital instabilities appear unlikely.