A COMPARISON OF CADMIUM CONCENTRATIONS IN TISSUES OF DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF CATTLE

Concentrations of cadmium in selected tissues collected from various c ategories pf Black Pied cattle were compared. All the animals, includi ng 7 cows aged 3 to 11 years, four heifers aged 26 to 28 months, 14 hu lls aged 24 to 26 months, and 7 calves aged 4 to 6 months, were kept a t a single farm. Samples of hepatic, renal, myocardial, and diaphragma tic tissues were collected after slaughter. The samples were mineraliz ed using the microwave digestion technique and cadmium was determined by the ETA-AAS method. The following mean concentrations (mu g.k(-1) /- SD) were found in individual tissues of cows, bulls, heifers, and c alves: renal - 647.8 +/- 384.9, 317.43 +/- 101.24, 366.0 +/- 79.24, an d 133.74 +/- 116.71, respectively; hepatic - 166.36 +/- 59.13, 144.1 /- 24.4, 159.45 +/- 72.3, and 46.2 +/- 28.35, respectively; myocardial - 1.94 +/- 0.93, 1.88 +/- 0.8, 1.35 +/- 0.9, and 1.61 +/- 1.35, respe ctively; diaphragmatic - 1.43 +/- 0.74, 0.79 +/- 0.6, 1.27 +/- 0.89, a nd 1.08 +/- 0.98, respectively. Highly significant differences were fo und between calves and any other category in the concentration of cadm ium in liver and between calves and bulls or heifers in the concentrat ion of cadmium in kidneys. The latter difference between calves and co ws was significant. A highly significant correlation between age and c oncentration of cadmium in renal tissue was confirmed in cows (r=0.943 ).