Mineral elements in grasses growing in contrasting environmental conditions in southern Patagonia

Abstract

The importance of grasses and graminoids for sheep nutrition in Argentinean Patagonia is widely recognized. Focusing on sheep nutrition, we assessed the concentration of mineral elements in grasses growing in three ecological areas of southern Patagonia, representing a vegetation and climate gradient. With the aim of establishing potential relationships, tissue concentrations of several essential and non-essential elements for plants were determined, analyzing also soil properties. Soil and plant tissue mineral element concentrations varied between ecological areas and also depending on the particular element. The results obtained provide novel information about the nutritional characteristics of the main feeding source for sheep in southern Patagonia, but further trials will be required for improving our understanding of mineral element nutrition in relation to sheep production.