Being an essential micronutrient, selenium plays an important role in numerous metabolic processes, including the immune system’s activity, reproduction and antioxidant defence. Although acute symptoms of its deficit are rare in free-living ruminants, its chronic deficiency may be a factor limiting the number of animals inhabiting certain territories. Nowadays, selenium is supplemented not only in farm animals but also in game species. Therefore, it is important to investigate its status in animals to monitor whether they suffer due to deficit or excess of selenium. The study aimed to evaluate the levels of selenium in the skeletal muscles of wild and domesticated ruminants inhabiting the north-eastern part of Poland. A total of 172 muscle samples were collected from red deer (Cervus elaphus), n = 94, European roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), n = 58, and domestic cattle (Bos taurus), n = 20. Mean selenium concentrations were 0.079, 0.075 and 0.149 mg kg-1 in red deer, roe deer and cattle, respectively. Bovine muscles did not vary greatly in terms of the selenium content, whereas high individual variability was found in the muscles of the studied cervids. The differences between the individuals with the highest and the lowest levels of selenium were nearly 11-fold and 12.5-fold for red deer and roe deer, respectively. Both groups included animals with a high level of selenium, corresponding to the upper limit of the reference values for cattle; these represented 13% of roe deer and 22% of red deer. Respectively 12 and 15% of roe deer and red deer had a low level of selenium. More than 80% of cervids in both groups studied remained within the reference range, which implies a good level of selenium supply in wild ruminants inhabiting the region. Due to the high variability in selenium levels among cervids studied, venison is a poorer source of this mineral than beef.

25.2.2020