GB2220652A

GB2220652A - Treatment of pasture and formulation therefor

Info

Publication number: GB2220652A
Application number: GB8911551A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Reginald Goodwin-Jones
Original assignee: TRACE ELEMENT SERV Ltd
Current assignee: TRACE ELEMENT SERV Ltd
Priority date: 1988-05-24
Filing date: 1989-05-19
Publication date: 1990-01-17
Anticipated expiration: 2009-05-19
Also published as: GB2220652B; GB8812247D0; GB8911551D0

Abstract

Pasture is treated by administration of copper when indications of copper deficiency are detected either in soil or plant matter in the pasture, or in ruminant animals grazing thereon, the copper being co-administered with selenium (as selenite and/or selenate) so that the selenium enhances alleviation of the copper deficiency symptoms in grazing animals. The selenium and copper may be administered separately, or as a formulation containing both.

Description

Treatment of Pastures The present invention is concerned with the treatment of soil or plant matter in pastures.

Copper is a vital element for plant end animal life; and copper deficiency in plants has a number of adverse effects, including loss of green pigmentation (copper plays a vital role in photosynthesis in the production of chlorophyll).

Copper deficiency in animals also has a number of adverse effects, including poor fertility, poor appetite and growth, anaemia, bone disorders, and swayback in newborn lambs.

Copper deficiency in pastures, and in grazing animals, can be combated by treatment of the soil with copper, typically at a rate of zero to 10 kilograms per hectare. The copper may be applied in the form of soluble salts (such as copper sulphate) or in metallic form.

We have now found that the utilisation of copper by grazing ruminant animals is dependent on the plant matter taking up an appropriate amount of' selenium, to provide enough selenium for the proper metabolic utilisation of copper by the ruminant animals.

According to the present invention, therefore, there is provided a method of treatment of a pasture, which comprises administering copper to said pasture when indications of copper deficiency are detected in a first season either in soil or plant matter in said pasture or in ruminant animals grazing thereon, said copper being co-administered with selenium, either in said first season or in the immediately subsequent season, in an amount such as to enhance the alleviation of said copper deficiency indications in ruminant animals grazing on said pasture.

The co-administration of selenium enhances or potentiates the alleviation of copper deficiency symptoms: that is, in ruminants, irrespective of the amount of copper available to the animal from soil and forage, the effect is greater than when the seme-amount of copper is provided in the absence of sufficient selenium.

The pasture is preferably treated according to the invention by applying thereto a source of copper; selenium in an amount not exceeding 150 grams per hectare; and an agriculturally acceptable carrier. The present invention further comprises a composition suitable for the treatment of pasture, which comprises a source of copper, a minor amount (relative to the amount of copper), of selenium, and an agriculturally acceptable carrier.

The selenium may be applied in the form of a salt, such as sodium selenate and/or sodium selenite, or another aqueous-soluble selenate or selenite (that is a selenite or selenate which is soluble in an aqueous medium).

The copper may be applied as aqueous-soluble salt, such as copper sulphate, or it may be applied in the form of the oxide, or as the metal itself. The selenium and copper may be co-administered in the form of an aqueous spray, or, alternatively, they may be mixed with a suitable fertilizer (such as NPK fertilizer). When the selenium and copper are mixed with a fertilizer, they may be mixed with individual prills of the latter; alternatively, they may be admixed with the fertilizer, generally by the farmer, just prior to application to the pasture.

Selenium is typically applied to the pasture in an amount not exceeding 20 gms per hectare. When sodium selenite is used as the sole selenium source, it is preferably applied at a rate of 75 to 150 grams per hectare per annum; when sodium selenate is used as the sole selenium source, it is preferably applied at a rate of 4 to 30 grams per hectare.

It is, however, sometimes preferred to employ both sodium selenate and sodium selenite simultaneously; in this case preferred amounts per hectare of sodium selenite and of sodium selenate are reduced correspondingly.

The copper is typically administered to the pasture in an amount of 1 to 16 kilograms per hectare per annum; it is perticularly preferred to use copper in an amount of 2 to 5 kilograms per hectare every 2 to 3 years.

As mentioned above, the selenium is administered to the pasture according to the invention when (and only when) indications of copper deficiency have been detected; it is therefore important in the method according to the invention to positively monitor the animals, soil or plant matter for such indications of copper deficiency. Such indications may be clinically detected symptoms (such as occurrence of swayback in newborn lambs), or values obtained by analysis which fall below predetermined values.

The following Examples of the method according to the invention are given by way of illustration only.

Example 1 A dairy farm carrying 350 Friesian dairy cows suffered serious copper deficiency problems. Some cows were barren for two years (the normal calving interval should be about 360-380 days) and up to 30% of the calves were lost at or near birth. In financial terms the estimated cost of copper deficiency over a two year period (including veterinary bills, medicines and lost income) was estimated at about 50,000.

Injections and feed supplements containing copper were employed with little effect on the copper deficiency symptoms. When the pastures on which the cattle fed were treated according to the invention with copper sulphate (in an amount of 5kg per hectare) and sodium selenite (90 gms per hectare), the copper deficiency symptoms were substantially alleviated in the cattle.

Example 2 A dairy farm carrying 75 Friesian dairy cows suffered serious copper deficiency problems and the consequent losses due to calving difficulties for calving interval, and veterinary/medicine costs. After treating pastures with copper sulphate at 12 kgs and sodium selenite at 150 grams per hectare, the level remained free of its previous copper deficiency problems for about five years.

Example 3 A sheep farm carrying 1500 sheep suffered serious problems with swayback in newborn lambs (which is known to be caused by a copper deficiency in the ewe's diet). However, treatment of the sheep with copper produced little or no reduction in the rate of swayback occurrence.

In the following season, the pasture was treated with copper sulphate (1875 grams per hectare) and sodium selenate (25 grams per hectare); the incidence of swayback was reduced from 59 occurrences to zero.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of treatment of a pasture, which comprises administering copper to said pasture when indications of copper deficiency are detected in e first season either in soil or plant matter in said pasture or in ruminant animals grazing thereon, said copper being co-administered with selenium, either in said first season or in the immediately subsequent season, in an amount such as to enhance the alleviation of said copper deficiency indications in ruminant animals grazing on said pasture.

2. A method according to claim 1, in which selenium is administered to said pasture in an amount not exceed 150 grams per hectare.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, in which copper is administered to said pasture in an amount of 1 to 16 kg per hectare.

4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3, wherein said selenium is administered as sodium selenate and/or sodium selenite.

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein said sodium selenite is used as the sole selenium source, in an amount of 75 to 150 grams per hectare per annum.

6. A method according to claim 4, wherein said sodium selenate is used as the sole selenium source, in an amount of 4 to 30 grams per hectare.

7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein said selenium and copper are coadministered in the form of an aqueous spray.

8. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein said selenium and copper are coadministered together with a fertil iser.

9. For use in the treatment of pasture when indications of copper deficiency are detected either in soil or plant matter in said pasture, or in ruminant animals grazing thereon, the combination of copper and selenium in an amount such as to enhance the alleviation of said copper deficiency indications in ruminant animals grazing on said pasture.

10. A composition suitable for the treatment of pasture, which comprises a source of copper, a minor amount (relative to the amount of copper) of selenium, and an agriculturally acceptable carrier.

11. A composition according to claim 10, wherein said selenium is present as sodium selenate and/or sodium selenite.

12. A composition according to claim 10 or 11, which is in the form of an aqueous solution.

13. A composition according to claim 12, which is admixed with a fertilizer.