Selenium deficiency in the Federal Republic of Germany

Abstract

A mean selenium of .123 mg/kg dry wt was observed in 195 samples of agricultural soils, and a mean of .158 mg Se/kg dry wt in 304 samples of grassland soils collected at 354 sites in various regions of the Federal Republic of Germany. For grassland soil, a north/south gradient of Se concentrations was observed. In the industrialized regions of the North, higher Se levels were generally observed, the highest value of .652 mg Se/kg dry wt at a site in Northrhine-Westphalia. The mean selenium content of grass from the respective collection sites was .045 mg/kg dry wt in all regions of the FRG, a level insufficient for the maintenance of health of farm animals. The absence of a correlation between the soil- and grass-Se contents indicates that Se uptake by plants is not solely dependent on the presence of Se. Grass may be deficient in Se even if grown on Se-rich soils. Fixation of Se by acidic soils appears to be a major factor; the high Se levels in the soils of industrialized areas is not bioavailable. Based on these findings, it is concluded that locally produced feedstock must be supplemented with Se to prevent the outbreak of deficiency diseases in farm animals.

Selenium speciation and bioavailability in Dutch agricultural soils: the role of soil organic matter

“…These grassland soils from Germany also contained low total Se, i.e. 0.035 to 0.65 mg kg -1 (n = 304) (Hartfiel and Bahners, 1988). Within different soil types, Se content in grass samples is between 33 µg kg -1 (on sandy soils) to 74 µg kg -1 (on clay-peat soils) (Fig.…”

“…mainly < 0.50 mg kg -1 (Hartfiel and Bahners, 1988;Johnsson, 1992;Roca-Perez et al, 2010;De Temmerman et al, 2014;Száková et al, 2015). Total Se (aqua regia) in soils used in this study is hardly correlated to amorphous Al-(hydr)oxide content (R 2 = 0.16, p > 0.05) and weakly correlated to soil organic matter content (R 2 = 0.26, p < 0.05) and to amorphous Fe-(hydr)oxide content (R 2 = 0.51, p < 0.001).…”

“…0.12 to 1.93 mg kg -1 , with an average of 0.59 mg kg -1 (n = 27) and 0.035 to 0.65 mg kg -1 (n = 304), respectively (Hartfiel and Bahners, 1988;Johnsson, 1992). These results show that, without Se fertilization, Se content in grass grown on low Se soils is mostly below the adequate amount of Se for dairy cattle intake, i.e.…”

“…11 to 123 µg kg -1 (n = 304) (Hartfiel and Bahners, 1988;Johnsson, 1992). The grassland soils from Sweden and Germany also contain low total Se, i.e.…”

“…Republic, Spain (Yläranta, 1983;Hartfiel and Bahners, 1988;Wang and Sippola, 1990;Johnsson, 1992;Adams et al, 2002;Roca-Perez et al, 2010;De Temmerman et al, 2014;Tolu et al, 2014;Száková et al, 2015) and Denmark (Hamdy and Gissel-Nielsen (1976) in Gupta and Gupta, (2000)), also have a low total Se content, i.e. mostly < 0.70 mg kg -1 .…”