Back to Contents

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

TIME-COURSE CHANGES IN SELENIUM STATUS OF SOIL AND FORAGE IN A PASTURE IN SARGODHA, PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

KAFEEL AHMAD¹, ZAFAR IQBAL KHAN¹*, MUHAMMAD ASHRAF² ZAHID ALI SHAH², ABID EJAZ², AND EHSAN ELAHI VALEEM³*

Abstract: This study was carried out to determine the effects of pasture and sampling periods on selenium status of soil and forage at a livestock farm in district Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan. All animals at this farm received a basal diet consisted of different forage species in the pasture. Soil and forage samples were collected four times on monthly basis and analyzed after wet digestion to determine the selenium concentrations. Soil and forage exhibited very low levels of Se which were far below the critical level for plant growth and animal requirements for various metabolic processes. According to these results, forage and soil selenium concentrations showed both pasture and sampling period effects. High incidence of deficiency was found particularly in some months of sampling compared to the other intervals. These findings suggest the need of application of selenium containing fertilizers for pasture or supplementation with mixture containing selenium for animals being reared therein.

¹Department of Biological Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan,

²Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad-38040, Pakistan,

³Public Private Partnership Unit (PPPU), Planning and Development Department, Government of Sindh, Karachi-74200, Pakistan.

^*Corresponding authors: drzafar10@hotmail.com