RT Journal Article
T1 Evaluation of trace element status of organic dairy cattle
A1 Orjales Galdo, Inmaculada
A1 Herrero Latorre, Carlos
A1 Miranda López, José Manuel
A1 Rey Crespo, Francisco
A1 Rodríguez Bermúdez, Ruth
A1 López Alonso, María Marta
K1 Organic farming
K1 Trace element status
K1 Dairy cow nutrition
K1 Forage
K1 Soil ingestion
AB The present study aimed to evaluate trace mineral status of organic dairy herds in northern Spain and the sources of minerals in different types of feed. Blood samples from organic and conventional dairy cattle and feed samples from the respective farms were analysed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry to determine the concentrations of the essential trace elements (cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), iodine (I), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), nickel (Ni), selenium (Se) and zinc (Zn)) and toxic trace elements (arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb)). Overall, no differences between organic and conventional farms were detected in serum concentrations of essential and toxic trace elements (except for higher concentrations of Cd on the organic farms), although a high level of inter-farm variation was detected in the organic systems, indicating that organic production greatly depends on the specific local conditions. The dietary concentrations of the essential trace elements I, Cu, Se and Zn were significantly higher in the conventional than in the organic systems, which can be attributed to the high concentration of these minerals in the concentrate feed. No differences in the concentrations of trace minerals were found in the other types of feed. Multivariate chemometric analysis was conducted to determine the contribution of different feed sources to the trace element status of the cattle. Concentrate samples were mainly associated with Co, Cu, I, Se and Zn (i.e. with the elements supplemented in this type of feed). However, pasture and grass silage were associated with soil-derived elements (As, Cr, Fe and Pb) which cattle may thus ingest during grazing
PB Elsevier
SN 1751-7311
YR 2018
FD 2018
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/24290
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/24290
LA eng
NO Animal, Volume 12, Issue 6, 2018, Pages 1296-1305
NO This study was supported by the Spanish Government (project code AGL2010-21026). Inmaculada Orjales is in receipt of a FPU fellowship (Ref. FPU14/01473) from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026