Soil and agronomic factors associated with cadmium accumulations in kidneys of grazing sheep

Abstract

Mean concentration of cadmium (Cd) in kidneys of hogget sheep from 67 flocks grazing in the Agricultural Region of Western Australia was tested for association with soil, pastoral, climatic and nutritional factors. Hoggets grazing pastures on acidic soils and soils with a sandy-textured surface had higher Cd concentrations in kidneys than hoggets grazing pastures on more alkaline soils or soils with a clay-textured surface. Application of more than 100 kg of phosphatic fertiliser during the past 3 years to loamy soils was also associated with greater Cd concentration in kidneys of the grazing animals.

Mineral disorders in grazing livestock and the usefulness of soil and plant analysis in the assessment of these disorders

“…In these situations the intake of soil may be the significant source of the ingested F since plant uptake of soil F appears to be low (McLaughlin et al 1997). Some P supplements and fertilisers also contain significant levels of cadmium (Cd) and although their use may not be detrimental to the grazing animal may result in Cd concentrations in offal and meat exceeding the maximum permitted level for human consumption (Murphy et al 1992;Morcombe et al 1994). Hosking et al (1986) have described 2 forms of chronic Cu toxicity affecting sheep in Victoria.…”

Concentration of trace elements in blood and feed of homebred animals in Southern Serbia

“…Fertilisers and zinc and lead smelting plants can enrich soils with Cd (Archer and Hodgson 1987), but its uptake by plants and animals is generally poor and depends on the chemical composition and pH of the soil (Bramley 1990;Van Bruwaene et al 1984;Morcombe et al 1994). The reported Pb concentrations in cattle and sheep blood are in the range of 0.05-0.25 mmol/l and under 2.0 mmol/l, respectively (Underwood and Suttle 1999) and around 12.2 µg/l, regardless, of sex but depending on animal age (Alonso et al 2000).…”

Cadmium in aquatic ecosystems in Western Australia: A legacy of nutrient-deficient soils

“…Moreover, this was within the grain products, meat/poultry and vegetable food categories (Fardy et al, 1994), yet the fish and eggs/offal food groups did not exceed the legal maximum level. However, in Western Australia, bovine and ovine kidneys have recorded above acceptable Cd levels (Masters and Petterson, 1988) which Petterson and Masters (1988) associated with agricultural land use and Morcombe et al, (1994) associated with fertiliser application.…”

“…The undesirable side-effect of releasing Cd into the environment through application of phosphate fertilisers has been recognised within Australia (Simpson and Curnow, 1988; Bureau of Resource Sciences, 1997) and Western Australia (Masters and Petterson, 1988;Petterson and Masters, 1988;Mann, 1993;Western Australian Food Monitoring Program, 1993;Morcombe et al, 1994). However, the consequent risk of increased Cd uptake by humans feeding on benthic animals such as crayfish and mussels largely has been ignored, as exemplified by the recent removal of the Australian MPC for Cd in crustaceans.…”