Assessment of Transfer of Copper and Cobalt from Soil to Forage in Relation to the Dietary Allowance for Livestock

The current investigation was carried out to assess the influence of harvesting period on the transformation of copper and cobalt from soil to forage. Soil and pasture harvestings were obtained six times after an interval of 30 days. The results exhibited that the maximum level of soil Cu was observed at the 1 st period and the minimum at the 6 th period of harvesting. Connote levels of soil Cu speckled from 1.85-4.90 mg/kg at various intervals of harvesting periods. The uppermost value of forage Cu was found at the 1 st and the lowest at the 6 th period. Harvest varied from 8.84-18.24 mg/kg throughout the investigation at all harvesting periods. Mean levels of soil Co differed from 0.042-0.065 mg/kg at diverse harvesting times. Forage Co concentration was the highest at the 6 th period and the lowest at the 2 nd period throughout the study. The concentration of Co both in soil and forage were at severe deficient levels signifying the need of soil amendment with Co containing fertilizers to improve the Co stuffing of the pasture soil and, in turn, availability of Co to pasture from soil for grazing ruminants. Both, Co and Cu, contents were in both soil and forages although were sufficient for growing forages and for ruminants, but at some instances these concentrations were at severe marginal level, from which the deficiency of this element in animals may be anticipated. Therefore, soil amendment, and supplementation of livestock should be practiced continually as a prophylactic measure to safe guard the livestock from any potential hazard of deficiency caused by these elements at the farm.