Mineral content of hay harvested in Bavarian and Swiss horse farms. Predictive value of cutting time, number of cut, botanical composition, origin and fertilization

Horse Whole Blood Trace Elements from Different Sicily Areas: Biomonitoring of Environmental Risk

Horses are excellent bioindicators for the assessment of environmental pollution. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels and potential bioaccumulation of 28 mineral elements in 75 horse whole blood samples collected from five pollution-prone areas of Sicily, Italy. A direct mercury analyzer (DMA-80) was used for Hg determination, and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) for all other elements. A one-way ANOVA test, followed by Bonferroni's multiple comparison for post hoc comparison, was applied to assess statistically significant differences between mineral elements and the five experimental groups. The levels of mineral elements in hay and concentrate were below the limits set by Regulation No. 744/2012. The mineral content of whole blood samples was slightly influenced by the region of origin of the horse. p values < 0.05 were statistically meaningful. However, the concentrations of mineral elements in horses' whole blood remained within reference ranges. In conclusion, the present study shows that the mineral content does not represent a toxicological risk for the analyzed horses. In addition, the study areas did not appear to show a high mineral element contamination.

Discriminant analysis as a tool to classify farm hay in dairy farms

Hay is one of the primary constituents of ruminant feed, and rapid classification systems of nutritional value are essential. A reliable approach to evaluating hay quality is a combination of visual combined inspection by NIRS analysis. The analysis was carried out on 1,639 samples of hay collected from 2016 to 2021 in northern Italy. Discriminant analysis (DAPC) on five hay types (FOM, forage mixtures; APG, first alfalfa cutting with prevalence of graminaceous >50%; PRA, prevailing alfalfa >50%; PUA, purity alfalfa >95%; and PEM, permanent meadows) was performed by ex-ante visual inspection categorization and NIRS analysis. This study aimed to provide a complementary method to differentiate hay types and classify unknown samples. Two scenarios were used: i) all data were used for model training, and the discriminant functions were extracted based on all samples; ii) the assignment of each group was assessed without samples belonging to the training set group. DAPC model resulted in an overall assignment success rate of 66%; precisely, the success was 84, 79, 69, 37, and 27% for PUA, FOM, PRA, APG, and PEM, respectively. In the second scenario, three groups showed percentages of posterior assignment probability higher than 70% to only one group: PUA with PRA (~ 99%), PRA with PUA (~71%), and PEM with FOM (~75%). Discriminant analysis can be successfully used to differentiate hay types and could also be used to assess factors related to hay quality in addition to NIRS analysis.

Data on multiple regression analysis between boron, nickel, arsenic, antimony, and biological substrates in horses: The role of hematological biomarkers

The objective of this study was to evaluate the biomarkers of exposure to boron, nickel, arsenic, and antimony in an industrial region, evaluating the bioaccumulation in biological substrates and the correlation with biomarkers such as hematological parameters. Through indication of the accumulation of some minerals in the horse's biological substrates reflects environmental pollution. Moreover, an additional aim of the study was to show whether these contaminants have an influence on the hematological parameters in horses. Blood, serum, mane, and tail samples from 20 horses from an industrial area were analyzed to determine boron (B), nickel (Ni), arsenic (As), antimony (Sb) concentration. Hematological parameters (red blood cell [RBC], white blood cells [WBC], hemoglobin [Hb], hematocrit [Hct], mean corpuscular volume [MCV], mean corpuscular hemoglobin [MCH], mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration [MCHC], platelet [PLT]) as a biomarker of blood in relation to the bioaccumulation of these elements were analyzed also. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed and single regression analysis (Pearson) and multiple regression analysis (p < 0.05) between blood factors, As, B, Ni, and Sb concentrations, and for each mineral in different substrate, respectively. Results showed a significant correlation between tail and mane concentrations with serum and blood for boron concentration (r = -1 p < 0.05). No significant correlation between sample (feed, hay, mane, tail, and water) concentrations and As, Ni, and Sb were found. A significantly negative correlation with blood parameters (r = -1 p < 0.05) was observed in Boron concentration for mane and tail. This suggests that the mane and tail may be a potential means to investigate suspected exposure to excessive levels of trace minerals.