Distribution of trace elements in certain ecologicalcomponents and animal products in a dairy farmat Tirupati, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh, India

V. Raghu

Received: 12 January 2013 /Accepted: 6 July 2013# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Abstract Biogeochemical characteristics of the cattleare dealt based on the observations made in Ayurvedain the light of modern scientific developments in ap-plied environmental geochemistry. The biogeochemi-cal characteristics of certain important ecological com-ponents and animal products of the stall-fed animalswere studied. For this purpose, a dairy farm ofTirumala–Tirupati Devasthanams, a religious organi-zation in Tirupati, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradeshwas selected. This study is intended to trace out thetrace element interactions in the ecological compo-nents (soil, water, fodder, feed) of the stall-fed animalsand their output components viz. dung, urine and milk.Physical, physico-chemical properties and certain traceelements were determined for composite samples ofecological components and dung, urine, and milk ofstall-fed animals. The variations in the distribution ofpH and EC of urine and milk reflect the variations intheir physico-chemical or hydro-chemical properties.As mentioned in Ayurveda, not only the properties ofmilk but also the properties of dung and urine reflecttheir diet and conditions of their habitat. Even thoughthe diet is the same, the cows of different breeds yieldmilk of variable physical, physico-chemical propertiesand trace element composition which can be attributedto their body colour, substantiating Ayurveda.

Keywords Ayurveda . Body colour . Dairy farm .

Dung . Ecological components .Milk . Trace elements .

Urine

Introduction

The ancient scientific Sanskrit texts of Ayurveda (scienceof longevity) provide some important clues which aresignificant in livestock biogeochemistry involving hu-man health. They observed that the properties of milkand milk products depend upon their ecological andenvironmental conditions of their habitat and their feedand fodder and prescribe milk of cow, goat, ewe, she-buffalo, mare, camel, she-elephant and woman as aneffective remedy for various physiological imbalancesin man (Kantavallabha Charyulu 1952; AmbikaduttaShastri 1979; Pardhasaradhi Sarma 1979; PriyavratSharma 1981; Pandey 1986). Based on these works,investigations were carried out to understand the trueperspective of the principles of biogeochemistry and theirpractical application in applied environmental geochem-istry (Prasad et al. 1987, 1988, 1989). Ayurveda alsomentions that the variations in the properties of cow milkis dependent upon the body colour of that animal andprescribe milk of particular body colour of the cows forcertain diseases and disorders (Venkatasubramanyasastri1950; Pandey 1986). Ayurveda points out that the mix-ture of the dung of black cow, urine of brownish blackcow, the milk of reddish brown cow, and the curd ofwhite cow and the ghee of yellow cow in certain fixedproportions is called Panchagavyam and that it has lot of

Environ Monit AssessDOI 10.1007/s10661-013-3342-9

V. Raghu (*)Andhra Pradesh State Remote Sensing ApplicationsCentre (APSRAC),8th Floor, ‘B’ Block, Swarnajayanti Complex, Ameerpet,Hyderabad 500 038, Andhra Pradesh, Indiae-mail: raghuvangeepuram@rediffmail.com

medicinal importance in promoting the longevity ofhuman life (Guru Rao 1935).

Many workers (Underwood 1971; Nicholas andEgan 1975; Conrad et al. 1982) reported various debil-itating diseases in animals with well-marked clinicaland pathological manifestations that have been shownto be caused by natural or man-induced trace elementdeficiencies, toxicities, and imbalances. Modern workson animal nutrition (Underwood 1971; Maynard et al.1979; McDonald et al. 1981; Georgievskii et al. 1981;Bondi 1987) exhaustively discussed about the signifi-cance of trace element interactions in animal products.

The occurrence of various trace elements in dung,urine and milk mainly depends upon the type of qualityfodder which is also controlled by the availability oftrace elements in water and soil. Several workers (Kon1972; Dey et al. 1999; Soetan et al. 2010) studied thetrace element distribution in various animal products.Raghu (1990) compared concentration of trace elementsin various grazing animal products at Mangampeta bar-ite mining area and non-mineralized Tirupati area andopined that dung can be used as an important tool inagricultural reconnaissance, biological monitoring ofthe terrestrial environment, and mineral exploration.Prasad et al. (1993) studied the distribution of traceelements in dung, urine and milk of grazing animals atMangampeta barite area and Agnigundala base metalarea and found that dung can be used as a tool in mineralexploration as it reflects higher concentration of traceelements than those of urine and milk with highestconcentration of respective ore elements. Debski et al.(2005) state that cow’s milk might be a good indicator ofSe level in the agro-ecosystem when cattle are notsupplemented with trace elements and when these ru-minants consume the locally obtained feeds. A directcorrelation of increased concentration of Al in the milkof cows grazing in the bauxite quarry area in Romania isobserved (Lorint et al. 2012). In addition to the hair,milk of mothers, whole blood or blood serum, animalfaeces, and internal parasites are also good indicators oflevels of chemical elements (Dobrzanski et al. 2005;Filistowicz,et al. 2011).

Objective

In view of the importance of livestock in relation tohuman health biogeochemical characteristics of the cattleare dealt based on the observations made in Ayurveda in

the light of modern scientific developments in appliedenvironmental geochemistry. In order to study the fun-damental aspects of soil–water–plant–animal relations,certain ecological components and animal products ofthe dairy farm are taken into consideration. The ecolog-ical components include, soils, water, feed, and fodder;and the animal products are dung, urine, and milk.Therefore, in the present study, physical properties,physico-chemical properties and biogeochemical studieswith an emphasis on the trace element distribution andinteractions have been studied to determine their possibleapplication in applied environmental geosciences.

Study area

In this study, the biogeochemical characteristics of cer-tain important ecological components and animal prod-ucts of the stall-fed animals were studied. For this pur-pose, a dairy farm of Tirumala–Tirupati Devasthanams(TTD), a religious organization in Tirupati, ChittoorDistrict, Andhra Pradesh was selected. It is a well-defined biogeographical unit with known ecologicalcomponents and animal products. This study is intendedto trace out the trace element interactions in the ecolog-ical components of the stall-fed animals and their outputcomponents viz. dung, urine and milk.

The TTD dairy farm consists of about 300 stall-fedanimals maintained in an area of 70 ha. Among them,there are 200 cows, 85 are calves. In addition, there areten bulls, a he-elephant and a she-elephant. Milk ofthese cows is used for various religious activities of thetemples under TTD. The elephants are used in theprocession of the deities during festival times. Thecows of the dairy farm are classified into four cross-breeds. Each breed falls into the category of ‘Jersey’(JB) with black colour, ‘Holstein–Freisian’ (HF) withblack and white patches, ‘Sindhi’ (SB) reddish browncolour, and ‘non-descriptive’ (local breed) having dif-ferent skin colours.

All these animals are fed with Napier, Para, andGuinea grasses, and maize. Each variety is grown inan area of 4–10 ha in the dairy farm. The water supplyfor drinking and irrigation purpose is derived from fouropen wells located in the dairy farm. In addition to thefodder varieties, the cow feed is supplemented by (1)barley seedlings (‘Fometa’), artificially grown in aFodder ProductionUnit in the dairy farm; and (2) animalfeed which is a mixture of jowar 20 %, maize 20 %,

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groundnut cake 30 %, rice bran 10 %, wheat bran 10 %,molasses 7 %, mineral mixture 2.5 % and common salt0.5 %. In the feed the mineral mixture componentincludes Zn (0.15 %), Cu (0.06 %), Mn (0.09 %) andCo (0.01 %).

Sampling

Systematic sampling of ecological components andanimal products was carried out.

Ecological components

The following samples of ecological components werecollected.

1. A soil sample from a pit measuring 6″×6″×6″ in thefield was collected. Such samples from 8–10 spotsin different parts of the field of each fodder varietywere collected and combined as a composite samplerepresenting each field of the fodder variety.

2. Composite samples of the shoot of Napier, Para,Guinea grasses and maize.

3. Sample of water drawn from four open wells werecombined to represent a composite sample, and

4. A sample of animal feed supplemented to the cowsby the dairy management was also collected.

Animal products

Dung, urine, and milk of hundred matured stall-fedcross breed cows of different body colours were collect-ed. Among these cows, 16 are JB, 45 are HF, 25 are SB,and 14 are local breed. The crosses of JB, HF, and SBare milking animals. Among the HF cows 23 animalssuffer from a physiological disorder resulting in lowmilk yield. Even though there are some milch animalsin the local breed, their yield is very low and the entiremilk is allowed to consume by their calves. The HFcows with low milk yield are designated as HFLY. Inaddition, the dung of four stall-fed HF bulls, and dungand urine of he-and she-elephants were also collected.

The dung samples were collected in plastic bowlsdirectly from each animal, at the time of its excretionand combined breed wise to represent composite sam-ples. The samples of urine and milk of each animal werecollected separately in glass beakers. All these sampleswere collected within 4 days during summer season.

Physical and physico-chemical properties

Physical properties

Physical properties were determined for composite sam-ples of dung, urine and milk of stall-fed animals. Theseproperties include moisture/water content, organic mat-ter, and ash content of dung, urine and milk. Moisturefrom the dung samples was eliminated by keeping themat 110 °C in a hot air oven for 8 h. Further, the organicmatter from the moisture-free samples was eliminated at500 °C in a muffle furnace for 3 h. Similarly, watercontent from urine and milk samples was eliminatedby keeping them at 110 °C in a hot air oven for 8 h.Further, organic matter was estimated at 500 °C in amuffle furnace for 4 h. The data is shown in Table 1 andthe following observations are made.

1. Among the breeds of different colours, the dung ofcows of local breed shows highest organic matter(46.30 %) while highest ash content (14.29 %) isfound in the dung of HF cows. Organic matter andash content of urine and milk of JB cows arehighest among all breeds.

2. Highest moisture content (52.33 %) is obtained inthe dung of unhealthy cows (HFLY) among all theanimals of the dairy farm. Organic matter and ashcontent of urine and milk of healthy cows (HF) arehigher than those of unhealthy cows (HFLY).

Sex difference

1. Higher amounts of moisture (47.39 %) and organicmatter (41.51 %) are found in the dung of HF bullsthan those of the HF cows. Higher moisture con-tent (29.54 %) and ash content (14.68 %) areobtained in the dung of she-elephant than that ofhe-elephant. Higher amounts of organic matter(1.61 %) and ash content (1.82 %) are found inhe-elephant urine than that of she-elephant.

Highest moisture content in the dung of unhealthycows among all the stall-fed animals may be attributedto their physiological disorder. Higher organic matterand ash content in the urine and milk of HF cows thanthose of HFLY cows and higher amounts of moisturecontent and organic matter in the dung of HF bulls thanthose of HF cows may be attributed to their higherintake of diet.

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Physico-chemical properties

The physico-chemical properties of urine and milksamples of the cows of the dairy farm were determinedto differentiate the cows based on body colour. pH andelectrical conductivity (EC) were determined for urineand milk of each stall-fed cow. The minimum andmaximum values and the average values of pH andEC of urine and milk of different breeds of cows andunhealthy cows (HFLY) are given in Table 2. From thedata the following observations are made:

1. Minor variations in pH of urine and milk, andconspicuous differences in the case of EC of urineand milk are noticed.

2. Cow urine varies from slightly acidic (6.4) to mild-ly alkaline pH (8.0) with an average value of 7.6.The range of urine pH in different breeds of cows issubtle. Similarly, the average pH of milk is 6.5 andminor variations in the range of pH of milk are alsofound in different breeds of cows.

3. Appreciable variations are found in the conductiv-ity of urine, and the highest average being in HF(21,688 μ℧ /cm) and the lowest is in SB(14,460 μ℧/cm). The conductivity of milk is alsowidely varying with JB milk showing highest av-erage value of 4,588 μ℧/cm, the lowest being inSB, i.e. 2,666 μ℧/cm (Table 2).

All these variations in the distribution of pH and ECof urine and milk reflect the variations in their physico-chemical or hydro-chemical properties. The variationsin physical and physico-chemical properties of dung,

urine, and milk of different breeds of cows may beattributed to the body colour of the cows although thediet is same.

Trace elements

In the present study, 0.5 g of all biological sampleswere digested in 2 M HCl and 1 g of finely powderedsoil samples were digested in aqua regia as suggestedby Brooks (1972). All these samples were analyzed foreight trace elements viz., Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Ni, Co, Crand Cd by means of atomic absorption spectrophotom-eter. From the data (Tables 3 and 4) the followingobservations are made.

Ecological components

1. Cobalt is higher in all dry soils than in the ignitedsoils while Cu, Zn, Mn and Cr are higher in ignitedsoils than in dry soils.

2. Cadmium which is not detected in both ignited anddry soils is present in water and in all fodders onash weight basis.

3. Manganese, Co, and Ni in maize soil, Zn and Cu inNapier soil, and Cr and Pb in Para soil showhighest concentration in samples of ignited soilsamong the soils of four fodder varieties.

4. The TDS of water has highest concentration of Mn.5. Nickel, Co and Cr in maize shoot and Pb in Para

grass show highest concentration on ash weightbasis among all fodder varieties reflecting theircorresponding soil concentration (except for Cr).

Table 1 Physical properties of dung, urine and milk of stall-fed animals

S. no Animal Dung Urine Milk

Moisturecontent %

Organicmatter %

Ash % Watercontent %

Organicmatter %

Ash % Watercontent %

Organicmatter %

Ash %

1 Jersey cow 48.44 38.78 12.78 94.66 2.22 3.12 79.05 19.86 1.09

2 Sindhi cow 49.36 40.13 10.51 98.46 0.55 0.99 86.87 12.48 0.65

3 Holstein–Freisian cow 46.00 39.71 14.29 97.79 0.83 1.38 85.13 13.99 0.88

4 Holstein–Freisian cow (low yield) 52.33 40.27 7.40 98.31 0.69 1.00 87.01 12.26 0.73

5 Local breed cow 42.57 46.3 11.13

6 Holstein–Freisian bull 47.39 41.54 11.07

7 He-elephant 28.96 63.62 7.42 96.57 1.61 1.82

8 She-elephant 29.54 55.78 14.68 96.67 1.57 1.76

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6. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, Mn and Cd arehighest in barley seedlings (‘Fometa’) on ashweight basis than that of all fodder varieties.

7. Manganese on ash weight and Cu on dry weightshow highest concentration in the feed. Except forCo, all the elements show higher concentration onash weight basis than on dry weight in the feed.

Animal products

Dung

1. Among the dung samples of the stall-fed cowbreeds consisting of HF, SB, JB and local breeds,Mn in the cows of local breed, Zn, Pb, Co and Cr inJB, and Cu in HF show highest concentration onash weight basis. Further, the concentration of Cu,Zn, Mn, Cr and Cd in the dung of all stall-fedanimals is higher on ash weight basis than on dryweight.The cows of local breed are reared upon maize,

Napier grass, Guinea grass and Para grass only. Inaddition to the above fodders, JB, SB, HF, and HFLYcows are supplemented with barley seedlings and ani-mal feed. As Mn is reflected highly in the dung of localbreed, it shows the composition of Napier grass, whichis highest in that element among the four natural fod-ders. The dung of JB reflects the composition of maize(Co, Cr), Para grass (Pb), and barley seedlings (Zn),while, HF dung reflects the composition of barleyseedlings (Cu).

2. On ash weight basis, the dung of stall-fed healthycows (HF) shows higher elemental concentrationthan that of unhealthy cows (HFLY) except for Mnand Ni (Table 5). The unhealthy cows are providedwith higher quantity of barley seedlings and maizeshoot than what is normally given to the healthycows. The elemental concentration of Mn in barleyseedlings and Ni in maize shows highest concen-tration (Table 4). As a higher amount of this fodderis provided to the unhealthy cows the dietary com-position is clearly reflected by the highest concen-tration of these elements in their dung.

Sex difference

The concentrations of all elements are higher in stall-fed HF cow dung than the dung of HF bull on ashT

able2

pHandelectricalcond

uctiv

ity(EC)of

urineandmilk

ofstall-fedcows

S.n

oCow

breed

Urine

Milk

pHEC

pHEC

Minim

umMaxim

umAverage

Minim

umMaxim

umAverage

Minim

umMaxim

umAverage

Minim

umMaxim

umAverage

1Jersey

6.4

8.0

7.6

2,10

023

,100

14,587

6.3

6.7

6.5

2,40

05,70

04,58

8

2Sindh

i6.7

8.0

7.7

7,80

020

,700

14,460

6.4

6.6

6.5

2,15

03,00

02,66

6

3Holstein–

Freisian

6.8

7.9

7.6

1,65

023

,100

21,688

6.3

7.8

6.5

2,20

06,60

03,09

3

4Holstein–

Freisian(low

yield)

7.3

8.0

7.7

7,20

022

,500

17,863

6.3

6.7

6.4

2,40

03,30

02,77

6

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weight basis except for Mn and Pb. In fact, the Mnconcentration (2756 ppm) of bull dung is highest thanthat of any other animal of the dairy farm. HF bulls andhe-and she-elephants are provided with maize, Napiergrass, and Guinea grass only. In addition to the abovefodders as HF cows are supplemented with barleyseedlings and animal feed, higher elemental concentra-tion is reflected in HF cow dung than that of HF bull.

On ash weight basis, the dung of she-elephantshows higher concentration of Zn, Mn, and Cr thanthat of he-elephant, reflecting the composition of Paragrass (Zn), Napier grass (Mn), and maize (Cr).

Urine

In all the urine samples of stall-fed animals, the con-centration of Cu, Zn and Cd are higher in dry weightbasis than on ash weight. The urine of stall-fed cows ofdifferent breeds, on ash weight basis, shows highestconcentration of Cu, Zn, and Co in JB, Pb, and Ni in

SB (Table 6). Manganese, Cr and Cd show very lowconcentrations in all urines. The urine of JB reflects thecomposition of barley seedlings (Cu, Zn) and maize(Co), while SB urine reflects the composition of Paragrass (Pb) and maize (Ni).

The urine of stall-fed healthy cow (HF) is generallyhigher in all elements than the urine of unhealthy cow,both on ash weight and dry weight bases.

On ash weight basis, Pb, Zn, Co, Ni, Cr and Mn arehigher in the urine of he-elephant than that of she-elephant reflecting their dietary composition. On bothash weight and dry weight bases, Cu, Mn and Cd arenot detected in the urine of she-elephant but they arepresent in the dung.

Milk

Milk contains higher elemental concentration than theurine but lower than the dung. The concentration of Pb,Zn, Mn, Ni, Co, Cr and Cd are higher on ash weight

Table 3 Trace elements (ppm) in Soils of the dairy farm

S. no Name of the soil Copper Lead Zinc Manganese Nickel Cobalt Chromium Cadmium

1 Napier 37 ND 455 476 38 13 51 ND

(20) (37) (410) (394) (28) (46) (46) (ND)

2 Maize 36 ND 425 596 114 40 66 ND

(29) (53) (410) (493) (58) (52) (56) (ND)

3 Para 30 85 452 497 ND 20 71 ND

(30) (45) (439) (401) (50) (55) (61) (ND)

4 Guinea 31 55 419 422 ND 25 61 ND

(30) (40) (410) (367) (43) (41) (46) (ND)

Values within brackets are expressed on dry weight basis and others are on ash weight basis

Table 4 Trace elements (ppm) in fodder, feed, and water of the dairy farm

S. no Name of the sample Copper Lead Zinc Manganese Nickel Cobalt Chromium Cadmium

1 Napier grass 31 ND 178 347 45 37 5 2

2 Maize fodder 42 ND 204 233 2199 37 13 3

3 Para grass 60 95 273 193 43 10 5 2

4 Guinea grass 50 30 222 213 22 32 5 2

5 Barley seedlings 110 80 424 493 18 33 10 5

1 Feed 133 35 391 487 140 2 20 5

(50) (ND) (35) (47) (5) (38) (ND) (2)

1 Watera ND 0.04 0.01 0.06 ND ND 0.04 0.003

Values within brackets are expressed on dry weight basis and others are on ash weight basisa Trace element concentration in milligram per liter

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basis than on dry weight. Among the milks of the cowsof different breeds, on ash weight basis, highest con-centrations of Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr and Cd in SB; Cu and Mnin HF; and Co in JB are observed (Table 7).

The milk of SB reflects the composition of maize(Ni, Cr), Para grass (Pb), barley seedlings (Zn); and HFmilk shows the composition of barley seedlings (Cu)and feed (Mn), while JB milk shows the compositionof maize (Co).

On ash weight basis, the milk of healthy cows (HF)shows higher concentration of Cu, Co, Ni, Cr, and Mnthan the milk of unhealthy cows (HFLY) reflecting thecomposition of maize (Co, Ni, Cr) and barley seedlings(Cu).

Among the breeds of different cows, on both ashweight and dry weight bases, the entry of Pb in the milkof JB and Co in SB is restricted and these elements arepresent in their dung and urine.

Although the diet is the same, the cows of differentbody colours, yield milk of variable physical, physico-chemical properties, and trace element compositionwhich can be attributed to their body colour.

Trace element sequences

Based on trace element analysis, different workershave suggested different ‘orders’ or ‘sequences’ ofthe trace elements under different physico-chemicalor biological conditions. Such sequences are found togive valuable information regarding the trace elementbehavior in geological and biological materials. Inview of this, in the present work, the trace elementsequence of the ecological components and animalproducts were arranged in a decreasing order and thefollowing observations are made.

Manganese or Zn occupies first position in the traceelement sequences for ignited/dry soils, all fodder va-rieties, water, feed (ash weight basis). But in case ofmaize shoot, Ni shows highest concentration followedby Mn on ash weight basis. Copper occupies firstposition followed by Mn for feed on dry weight basis.The trace element sequences of ecological componentsand animal products are given.

(a) Soil:Napier (A) Mn>Zn>Cr>Ni>Cu>Co>Pb*, Cd*

(D) Zn>Mn>Co=Cr>Pb>Ni>Cu>Cd*Maize (A) Mn>Zn>Ni>Cr>Co>Cu>Pb*, Cd*

(D) Mn>Zn>Ni>Cr>Pb>Co>Cu>Cd*

Para (A) Mn>Zn>Pb>Cr>Cu>Co>Cd*, Ni*(D) Zn>Mn>Cr>Co>Ni>Pb>Cu>Cd*

Guinea (A) Mn>Zn>Cr>Pb>Cu>Co>Ni*, Cd*(D) Zn>Mn>Cr>Ni>Co>Pb>Cu>Cd*

(b) Water:Mn>Pb=Cr>Zn>Cd>Cu*, Co*, Ni*

(c) Fodder:Napier: (A) Mn>Zn>Ni>Co>Cu>Cr>Cd>Pb*Maize: (A) Ni>Mn>Zn>Cu>Co>Cr>Cd>Pb*Para: (A) Zn>Mn>Pb>Cu>Ni>Co>Cr>CdGuinea: (A) Zn>Mn>Cu>Co>Pb>Ni>Cr>CdBarley seedlings:

(A) Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Co>Ni>Cr>Cd(d) Feed

(A) Mn>Zn>Ni>Cu>Pb>Cr>Cd>Co(D) Cu>Mn>Co>Zn>Ni>Cd>Cr*, Pb*

Dung

Manganese or Zn occupies first position in case ofdung of all stall-fed animals on both ash weight and/ordry weight basis. On both ash weight and dry weightbases, Cu occupies third position in the dung of JB, SBand HF whereas Ni in case of HFLY. This may beattributed to the deficiency of Cu reflecting certainphysiological disorder resulting in low milk yield inunhealthy cows.

In the dung of stall-fed cow and bull, on both ashweight and dry weight bases, Mn occupies first posi-tion, and on ash weight basis Mn, Zn and Cu follow thesame sequence.

Trace element sequences for dung

Jersey (A) Zn>Mn>Cu>Pb>Ni>Co>Cr>Cd(D) Zn>Mn>Cu>Co>Ni>Cr>Cd>Pb*

Sindhi (A) Mn>Zn>Cu>Ni>Cr>Cd>Pb*, Co*(D) Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Co>Ni>Cr>Cd*

Holstein–Freisian(A) Mn>Zn>Cu>Ni>Pb>Cr>Co>Cd(D) Mn>Zn>Cu>Ni>Co>Cr>Cd>Pb*

Holstein–Freisian (Low yield)(A) Mn>Zn>Ni>Cu>Pb>Cr>Cd>Co(D) Mn>Zn>Ni>Co>Cu>Pb>Cd>Cr*

Local breed(A) Mn>Zn>Cu>Co=Cr>Ni>Cd>Pb*(D) Mn>Pb>Zn>Ni>Cr>Cu*, Co*, Cd*

Holstein–Freisian Bull(A) Mn>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cr>Cd>Co*, Ni*(D) Mn>Ni>Zn>Co>Cu>Pb*, Cr*, Cd*

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He-elephant(A) Mn>Zn>Ni>Cu>Pb>Cr>Cd>Co*(D) Mn>Co>Zn>Ni>Pb>Cu*, Cr*, Cd*

She-elephant(A) Mn>Zn>Pb>Cu>Cr>Cd>Co*, Ni*(D) Zn>Pb>Mn>Ni>Co>Cr>Cd>Cu*

Urine

Among the urines of cows of different breeds, Pb oc-cupies first position except in JB and he-elephant on ashweight and HF on dry weight basis. In both healthy andunhealthy cow urines, Pb and Co on ash weight; Zn, Cd,Mn, and Cr on dry weight follow the same sequence.

Table 5 Trace elements (ppm) in dung of the stall-fed animals

S. no Animal Copper Lead Zinc Manganese Nickel Cobalt Chromium Cadmium

1 Jersey 200 53 2,813 1,316 40 38 25 5

(50) (ND) (532) (267) (20) (27) (5) (2)

2 Sindhi 205 ND 249 1,110 27 ND 15 5

(49) (27) (82) (293) (18) (25) (5) (ND)

3 Holstein–Freisian 221 30 251 1,110 47 12 20 5

(50) ND (113) (313) (49) (8) (5) (2)

4 Holstein–Freisian (low yield) 74 25 166 1,522 89 2 10 5

(29) (27) (90) (493) (80) (46) (ND) (2)

5 Local breed 44 ND 192 1,728 7 15 15 5

(ND) (51) (46) (380) (18) (ND) (5) (ND)

6 Holstein–Freisian bull 92 70 208 2,756 ND ND 10 5

(29) (ND) (44) (493) (160) (41) (ND) (ND)

7 He-elephant 60 50 160 233 158 ND 14 12

(ND) (27) (32) (47) (28) (35) (ND) (ND)

8 She-elephant 44 50 221 253 ND ND 40 5

(ND) (34) (35) (27) (20) (11) (5) (2)

Values within brackets are expressed on dry weight basis and others are on ash weight basis

Table 6 Trace elements (ppm) in urine of stall-fed animals

S. no Animal Copper Lead Zinc Manganese Nickel Cobalt Chromium Cadmium

1 Jersey 10 ND 11 3 25 67 ND ND

(13) (52) (24) (2) (14) (20) (2) (1)

2 Sindhi ND 69 8 ND 38 41 5 ND

(18) (52) (13) (2) (17) (21) (ND) (4)

3 Holstein–Freisian ND 53 8 3 18 52 5 2

(27) (25) (15) (3) (48) (34) (ND) (5)

4 Holstein–Freisian (low yield) 7 25 ND 3 ND 15 5 ND

(17) (44) (11) (2) (33) (28) (ND) (3)

1 He-elephant ND 60 10 6 114 44 30 ND

(17) (79) (18) (3) (29) (ND) (ND) (2)

2 She-elephant ND 32 ND ND 20 25 5 ND

(ND) (87) (7) (ND) (36) (12) (ND) (ND)

Values within brackets are expressed on dry weight basis and others are on ash weight basis

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Trace element sequences for urine

Jersey (A) Co>Ni>Zn>Cu>Mn>Pb*, Cr*, Cd*(D) Pb>Zn>Co>Ni>Cu>Cr=Mn>Cd

Sindhi (A) Pb>Co>Ni>Zn>Cr>Cu*, Cd*, Mn*(D) Pb>Co>Cu>Ni>Zn>Cd>Mn>Cr*

Holstein–Freisian(A) Pb>Co>Ni>Zn>Cr>Mn>Cd>Cu*(D) Ni>Co>Cu>Pb>Zn>Cd>Mn>Cr*

Holstein –(A) Pb>Co>Cu>Cr>Mn>Zn*, Ni*, Cd*Freisian (D) Pb>Ni>Co>Cu>Zn>Cd>Mn>Cr*(Low yield)He-elephant

(A) Ni>Pb>Co>Cr>Zn>Mn>Cu*, Cd*(D) Pb>Ni>Zn>Cu>Mn>Cd>Co*, Cr*

She-elephant(A) Pb>Co>Ni>Cr>Cu*, Zn*, Mn*, Cd*(D) Pb>Ni>Co>Zn>Cu*, Cr*, Cd*, Mn*

Milk

Zinc occupies first position in the milk of cows ofdifferent breeds, and healthy and unhealthy cows, onboth ash weight and dry weight bases.

Trace element sequences for milk

Jersey (A) Zn>Co>Ni>Mn>Cu>Cr=Cd>Pb*(D) Zn>Co>Cu>Pb*, Ni*, Cr*, Mn*, Cd*

Sindhi (A) Zn>Ni>Pb>Cr>Mn>Cd>Cu*, Co*(D) Zn>Cu>Pb*, Co*, Ni*, Cr*, Mn*, Cd*

Holstein–Freisian(A) Zn>Ni>Pb>Cu>Mn>Co>Cr>Cd(D) Zn>Co>Ni>Cu*, Pb*, Cr*, Mn*, Cd*

Holstein–Freisian (Low yield)(A) Zn>Pb>Cu>Mn>Cr=Cd>Co*, Ni*(D) Zn>Cu>Ni>Pb*, Co*, Cr*, Mn*, Cd*

A=Ash weight basis D=Dry weight basis *Notdetected

Cobalt is readily absorbed in to the blood stream andexcreted primarily in urine whereas urinary excretion ofZn is low and does not vary markedly with dietarysupply and Zn either ingested or injected primarilyexcreted in faeces (Soetan et al. 2010). In this study,also Zn in the dung and Co in urine are occupying firstor second position in all the stall-fed cows both on ashweight and dry weight basis.

Conclusions

Variations in physical and physico-chemical propertiesare observed in dung, urine and milk of different stall-fed animals. The organic matter and ash content of JBmilk and urine are highest among all breeds. Subtlevariations in average pH and conspicuous differencesin average EC of urines and milks are observed. Thus,it is concluded that as mentioned in Ayurveda, not onlythe properties of milk but also the properties of dungand urine reflect their diet and conditions of theirhabitat. The cows of different body colours yield milkof variable physical, physico-chemical properties andtrace element composition although the diet is the samewhich can be attributed to their body colour, substan-tiating Ayurveda.

Acknowledgments I owe a great deal to my Research Super-visor, the late Prof. E.A.V. Prasad, Department of Geology, SriVenkateswara University, Tirupati for without whose inspirationand guidance this work would not have been attempted. I thankthe Farm Superintendent of TTD Dairy farm, Tirupati for per-mitting to collect the samples. Grateful thanks are due to Prof.B.L.K. Somayajulu, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmadabad

Table 7 Trace elements (ppm) in milk of stall-fed animals

S.No Cow breed Copper Lead Zinc Manganese Nickel Cobalt Chromium Cadmium

1 Jersey 11 ND 272 13 27 40 5 5

(3) (ND) (24) (ND) (ND) (19) (ND) (ND)

2 Sindhi ND 75 740 13 315 ND 27 10

(20) (ND) (39) (ND) (ND) (ND) (ND) (ND)

3 Holstein–Freisian 22 70 434 20 102 15 10 5

(ND) (ND) (58) (ND) (2) (8) (ND) (ND)

4 Holstein–Freisian (low yield) 15 85 491 7 ND ND 5 5

(14) (ND) (38) (ND) (7) (ND) (ND) (ND)

Values within brackets are expressed on dry weight basis and others are on ash weight basis

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for providing necessary facilities to carry out trace elementanalysis. I express my deep sense of gratitude to Dr. J. RamaPrasad, former Professor, Department of Animal Nutrition, Col-lege of Veterinary Science, Tirupati for meticulously goingthrough the manuscript and improving its quality. I am thankfulto the reviewers who have provided valuable comments to im-prove the quality of the manuscript.

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