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The Effect of Sulphur on ⁷⁵Se Absorption and Retention in Sheep^1,2,

Department of Animal Science and Production, Institute of Agriculture, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, W. A. 6009, Australia

Four Border-Leicester x Merino wethers were used in a 4 x 4 Latin square experiment to study the effects of dietary sulphur on selenium absorption and retention. The basal diet contained 0.05% S and sodium sulphate was added to give additional treatment levels of 0.11, 0.17 and 0.24% total sulphur. Sodium selenate was added to all diets to bring the dietary selenium level to a constant 0.25 mg/kg. One hundred µCi ⁷⁵Se as sodium selenate (specific activity 50 µCi/mg Se) was administered to the rumen per fistulam after a 10-day period of adjustment on each diet. Radioactivity in blood, urine, faeces and rumen digesta was measured at intervals over the succeeding 7 days. Twenty percent of the total activity in the rumen fluid was in the TCA supernatant fraction after 3 hours, and this proportion tended to increase slightly as sulphur intake increased. Fecal excretion of selenium accounted for between 44 and 51% of the dose after 7 days, the high levels being associated with increasing sulphur intake. However, these differences were not significant. Urinary excretion of selenium accounted for between 12% (0.05% S) and 22% (0.24% S) of the dose after 7 days, with treatment differences being significant. Levels of radioactivity in blood were significantly higher in sheep fed the 0.05% S diet compared with those fed the higher levels. The results show that sulphur affects apparent selenium excretion and suggest that the metabolism of these two elements is intimately related.

KEY WORDS: • selenium • sulphur

¹ Supported in part by grants from the Australian Meat Research Council, The University of Western Australian Research Grants Committee, a Fullbright-Hays Award and a Queen Elizabeth II Research Fellowship.

² An abstract of this paper appeared in J. Anim. Sci. 27, 1771 (1968).

³ Department of Meat and Animal Science. University of Wisconsin, Madison. 53706, U.S.A.

⁴ CSIRO, Division of Animal Production, Private Bag, P.O., Wembley 6009, Western Australia.

Manuscript received 20 September 1978.