Influence of different diets and sorbents on the accumulation of Cd in the muscle tissue of young cattle and pigs

Abstract

The article, based on scientific research, examines an important problematic issue regarding the quality and safety of beef and pork during their production in the Polissia zone of Ukraine, affected by the Chornobyl accident. The purpose of the research was to evaluate the effect of different diets and saponite sorbent on the level of Cd accumulation in the muscle tissue of young bulls and pigs kept in the territory belonging to the third zone of radioactive contamination. Two scientific and economic experiments were conducted. When growing Ukrainian black and white dairy young bulls, the influence of different silages (4-component cereal-bean mixture and Echinоchloa frumentаcea silage) on the content of Cd in the longest back muscle was studied (experiment 1), and optimization of the protein nutrition of animals was carried out at the expense of various feeds with a high protein content (narrow-leaved lupine and fodder beans) (experiment 2). In the third experiment, young pigs were fed various amounts of the natural mineral saponite as part of their diet, and its influence on the ecological quality of products was studied. Since different types and amounts of feed components were used when feeding the animals of the studied groups, it was necessary to balance the rations according to the content of nutrients for each of the presented groups. Regulation and verification of the nutritional value of the rationed feed was carried out monthly. When changing rations for animals, their growth, live weight, zootechnical analysis of feed, their nutritional value and feeding rates were taken into account. Sample preparation of fodder and muscles was carried out according to GSTU 7670:2014 with the help of dry mineralization, the concentration of the toxicant was determined by the atomic absorption method. The transition coefficient of Cd in the chain «diet – muscle tissue» in this study is within the established standards. At the same time, feeding by Echinоchloa frumentаcea silage contributed to a decrease in the coefficient of transition of Cd into the muscle tissue of young bulls by 0.68 % (absolute). The introduction of 30 % (by mass) of fodder beans into the grain mixture instead of a similar amount of lupine for young cattle (cattle) for fattening in the territory of radioactive contamination (the third zone) contributed to a significantly lower accumulation and transition of Cd into the muscle tissue of animals – on 25.0 % and 0.71 % (absolute), respectively. The inclusion of the natural sorbent mineral saponite in the amount of 3–7 % by mass of concentrated feed in the diet of growing and fattening pigs contributed to a reduction of Cd in the longest muscle of the back by 21.8– 37.9%, while at the same time it was better in terms of the sorption efficiency for excretion of Cd, which turned out to be a saponite dose of 7 %. Key words: young bulls, pigs, nutrition, different diets, saponite, accumulation of Cd.