EFFECT OF SAPTIO-TEMPORAL VARIATION ON AVAILABILITY OF TRACE ELEMENT FROM SOIL, FORAGE TO SMALL RUMINANTS OF SEMI-ARID ENVIRONMENT

Metals play vital role in many metabolic processes of plants and ruminants. Present work was carried out to assess the cobalt uptake and its transfer in food chain. Current study was conducted at semi-arid region of Pakistan. Bhakkar, selected as study site which was further split into two sites. Sampling was done in four seasons ((S1) summer, (S2) winter, (S3) autumn and (S4) spring) of year. Soil, forage and goats were selected for sampling. Amount of Co was significantly different at site x season in soil; it was maximum in season 2 at site 2 and observed minimum in season 2 at site 1. In forages, Co was significantly dissimilar in site and season. In the forages at site 1 season 4 and site 2, season 4, concentration of cobalt was 0.22 mg/kg and 0.32 mg/kg, respectively. In goats, Co was non-significantly affected in different stages but significantly affected in site, season, site x season, source and source x stage. Different indices were also studied to assess the transfer of Co to upper trophic level. Level of Co was within the prescribed limits in all parameters. This study discusses the trace element availability, uptake, toxicity according to spatio-temporal differences. The significance of this work is the use of this data in the preventive diagnosis of metabolic and production diseases. The collected data may serve as a control indicator to detect toxic hazards related to the heavy metal occurrence on animal health status.