Zdenko Steiner

Concentration of selenium in soil, pasture, blood and wool of sheep

Investigations have been conducted on Slavonia during a threeyear period on six locations, two per each year during June (in the firstyear = Vinkovci and Beli Manastir; in the second year = Valpovo andDjakovo; in the third year Slatina and Donji Miholjac). Six samples fromthe soil, pasture and sheep wool, as well as 15 sheep blood samplesweretakenfromeachlocality.Therewasadeficitofseleniumcontentinthe soil on four locations in the second and third year (0.18; 0.14; 0.10and 0.07 mg/kg) and an adequate content on locations Vinkovci andBeliManastirinthefirstyear(0.98and0.71mg/kg).ThelocalityValpovowas characterized by the highest selenium concentration in pasture,blood and wool of sheep, as well as by the lowest blood enzymesactivities (ALT, AST, CK, LDH) when compared to other locations.Selenium concentration in pasture was under the critical range on alllocations (from 0.006 to 0.03 mg/kg DM), except the locality Valpovo inthe second year (0.05 mg/kg DM). Serum selenium concentrations(from 0.035 to 0.082 mg/L) on all locations were below the adequaterange for adult sheep and differed among locations. Activities ofenzymes in the blood of sheep (AST: 3.59, CK: 4.93 and LDH:6.87 µkat/L) showed severe selenium deficiency. Seleniumconcentrations in the wool were under the critical level on all locations(from <0.0002 to 0.06 mg/kg). The results regarding selenium in woolshowed that, apart from blood selenium and activities of plasmaenzymes (AST, CK, LDH), wool should also be taken in account as aselenium status indicator.Key words: blood, enzyme blood activity, selenium, sheep, soil,pasture, wool

Individual and combined usage of enzyme preparation and heat-treated cereals in pig fattening

In order to reach better production and financial results of pork production different technological ways of pig fattening are researched. The purpose of this paper is to show separate results of polyenzyme application and the results of the use of heat-treated cereals in pig fattening as well as the results of their combined applica - tion. Pigs fattened on a diet with polyenzyme preparation and heat-treated cereals, either separately or combined, were characterised by an insignificantly higher growth rate and their feed intake per kilogram of weight gain was low compared to pigs fed standard mixtures (control group). In statistical terms, the relative portion of muscle tissue in pork carcass was significantly lower in experimental group 3 fed the mixture with heat-treated cereals than in the other groups. The absolute portion of muscle tissue in pork carcass was statistically more important in experimental group 2 (45.15 kg) receiving the mixture of enzyme additive and heat-treated cereals, and the least important in experimental group 3 (40.92 kg) fed heat-treated cereals. During pig fattening the income for experimental groups was higher than for the control group because of better production results. Average values covering variable expenses show the increase only in the third experimental group in the second fattening period compared to the control group, but these differences were of no statistical importance.