The Selenium Status of Dairy Cattle in Estonia

The concentration of selenium in soils and crops varies widely in different parts of the world. The selenium status of many countries is unknown, but there is evidence that selenium deficient crops occur in every continent. Surveys in Finland (Oksanen & Sandholm 1970), Norway (Mikkelsen & Aas Hansen 1967), Denmark (Gissel-Nielsen 1975) and Sweden (Lind-berg & Bingefors 1970) were among the first to investigate selenium status and they showed that each of these countries was very deficient. As a result selenium was permitted to be included as a supplement in animal feeds, in Finland from 1969, in Denmark from 1975, and in Norway and Sweden from 1980. © 1997, The Author(s).