Analysis of the substances migration within the trophic chain “soil — plant — raw meat materials”

Abstract

The trophic chain, which manifests the correlation at nutritional level between various macro- and microorganisms, is an important factor of the ecosystem; it can show the migration of various substances within the chain “soil — water — plant — animals”. The trophic chain in Borgoy depression area was studied due to the profound correlation between the compositional characteristics of the soil and pronounced organoleptic features of meat of the sheep that feed on grass in this area. For the experiments, control and experimental samples of soil, water, plants and mutton meat were examined. The samples taken near the saline lake within the Borgoy depression on the west of Beloozersk village served as an experimental sample. The samples taken 30 km from the salt lake near Petropavlovsk village in the Republic of Buryatia served as control sample. Experiments have shown that the soil of the Borgoy depression is a saline soil, with a depth of the salt horizon of 0–30 cm, and the salt belongs to chloride-sulfate-soda type of salinity. It is noted that the saline soil is characterized by a much higher content of carbonates, chlorides and cations of sodium, potassium and magnesium. Correlation was found between the isotopic composition in soil, vegetation and the raw meat materials. More profound certain organoleptic features of Borgoy mutton were noted. It’s highly probable that this fact is associated with the peculiarities of the mineral, chemical, and amino acid compositions of meat of the livestock that lives in the pastures of the Borgoy depression, characterized by saline soils. Despite the increased content of heavy metals such as lead and copper in the soil, data on sheep muscle tissue showed that all values of toxic elements content are within the permissible concentration range. The transfer of heavy metals from the soil to the aboveground part of plants is hindered by the underground root part, which serves as barrier.