Accumulation of cadmium and lead in the organs and tissues of dairy cows depending on breed and diet
Abstract
Agroecosystem monitoring in a time of full-scale war has shown a high level of anthropogenic impact and an increase in the contamination of the environment with heavy metals, including toxic Cd and Pb. This study aimed to analyse the content of cadmium and lead in the kidneys, liver, lungs, heart, spleen, bone and muscle tissues of dairy cows depending on breed and diet under the conditions of environmentally safe cow’s milk production technology. Experiments were conducted on dairy cows of different breeds in farms located within the Forest-Steppe soil and climatic zone of Ukraine, with control slaughter performed at the end of the experiment. The highest Cd content was found in the kidneys of cows of the Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed on a silage-hay diet with the values 2.968 ± 0.193 mg/kg and on a silage-root crop diet with the values 3.241 ± 0.318 mg/kg, and the highest Pb content was found on the silage-hay diet with the values 4.387 ± 0.092 mg/kg and silage-root crop diet with the values ± 0.546 mg/kg. Analysis of muscle tissue for Cd content showed the highest concentration in Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy cows fed a silage-hay diet, amounting to 0.125 ± 0.026 mg/kg, and a silage-root crop diet, amounting to 0.140 ± 0.006 mg/kg. The Pb concentration in muscle tissue was also highest in Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy cows, reaching 1.472 ± 0.065 mg/kg under the silage-hay diet and 1.691 ± 0.092 mg/kg under the silage-root crop diet. The highest concentrations of Cd and Pb in the kidneys, liver, lungs, spleen, heart, bones and muscle tissue were identified in Ukrainian Black‑and-White Dairy cows compared with animals of the Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed, which was associated more with the higher intake of pollutants from the basal diets and feeding type than with breed characteristics. The obtained data may be used in the development of recommendations for selecting diet types and feeding technologies for dairy cows in order to reduce the accumulation of heavy metals in internal organs and tissues, as well as to improve the environmental safety of cows’ milk and dairy products
Keywords
ecotoxicants; feed; feeding type; heavy metals; productive animals; agroecosystems
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