Abstract
Soil-plant-animal and soil-animal pathways are the principal routes through which trace element e.g fluorine (F) enters the animal body systems. It is believed that soils and herbage contaminated with such trace elements may, eventually, reflect in the bones and other animal tissues. However, the correlationship between soil F and Bone F among grazing animals has not been substantially, established. This study aimed at investigating the association between F concentration in soil to those found in the bones of sheep and cattle reared in metalliferous mining areas of the United Kingdom. The study area included Derbyshire, a site of fluorite (CaF2) mineralization; Ceredigion and Mendips, sites of mostly galena (PbS) mineralization, the latter two sites used as control sites for this study. The analytical approach involved alkali fusion, perchloric acid digestion and sequential extraction procedures in determining total soil F, total bone F and soil bioavailable F, respectively. The spectrophotometric technique was then used to determine soil F from solution extracts. The results showed mean total soil F concentrations of 302.3 mg/kg, 175.4 mg/kg and 70.8 mg/kg in Derbyshire, Mendips and Ceredigion respectively. The same order was observed for bone F with as high as 218.3 mg/kg, 118.1 mg/kg and 88.9 mg/kg found in Derbsyhire, Mendips and Ceredigion respectively. Analysis of Spearman rank coefficients established that there is a moderate association between soil bioavailable F and bone F (rs=0.571), significant at p < 0.1; a conclusion suggesting possible high risk from F on animals grazing within heavily contaminated areas affected by historical F mining.
Highlights
Involuntary ingestion of soil by grazing animals is a potential pathway to trace metal accumulation in animal tissues [1, 2]
The total soil F concentrations obtained from soil analysis indicated that Derbyshire is higher in soil F concentrations than those observed for the control areas (Table 2)
The study concluded that no significant correlation exist between total soil F and bone F was realized, a moderate positive association was found to exist between soil bioavailable fluoride and bone fluoride, significant at p < 0.1 level of confidence
Summary
Involuntary ingestion of soil by grazing animals is a potential pathway to trace metal accumulation in animal tissues [1, 2]. Recent studies in the United Kingdom (UK) like that of [4] revealed that grazing animals could access trace element contaminants through direct soil ingestion. When animals consume herbage potentially rich in trace elements, the elements may subsequently be absorbed across the stomach walls and small intestines from where it rapidly, through the blood stream, enters the mineralized tissue. It is worth noting that the effect of pollution arising from trace metals is increased by factors such as; mobility and solubility of the pollutant and the ability of the pollutant to enter the food chain [7]
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