[The supply of wild ruminants with major and trace elements. 1. The cadmium content of winter grazing and the cadmium status of red deer, fallow deer, roes and moulons].

The Cd-determination of 10 different winter grazings for wild ruminants in seven different biotopes showed significant differences of the habitats resulting from the previous Cd-emission of metallurgy smelting non-ferrous metals. The winter grazing of the Tharandt Forest and the Harz mountains contained significantly more Cd than that of the Lower Flaming hills, the western Erzgebirge and the northern agrarian areas. The bark and the tips of conifer twigs, twigs of oak and mountain ash, bilberry and heather plants, i. e. perennial plants resp. parts of plants proved to be particularly rich in Cd. On an average, wild ruminants consume more Cd than domesticated ruminants, which do not consume parts of perennial plants. The rumen contents of all wild ruminants contained, with 0.20 to 0.25 mg/kg dry matter more Cd than could be expected from the content of the grazing. In the Cd-contaminated areas the amount of Cd in the rumen contents too showed the Cd-load. The kidneys, livers and the covering hair of a total of 172 head red deer, roes and mouflons reflected the Cd-load and the dependence of the Cd-level on the age. The Cd-concentration ascertained in the organs of the wild ruminants was compared with that of sheep and cattle. The, on an average, higher Cd-load of the wild ruminants was confirmed. The kidneys of wild ruminants older than five years should, as a general principle, not be eaten and neither should the livers of animals from Cd-contaminated biotopes. The limb defects of mouflons from Cd-contaminated areas are discussed in connection with Cd-induced secondary Cu-deficiency resp. Mn- and Zn-deficiency. A reference is made to further works.