Trace elements and heavy metals status in Arabian camel

In the desert, camel rearing is an important cultural fact. In the present paper, 246 Arabian camels from Emirates were sampled for the determination of trace elements and different heavy metals. The following elements were tested: copper, zinc, iron, aluminium, arsenic, boron, barium, cobalt, chromium, cadmium, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, selenium, strontium and lead. The variation factor included age, sex and physiological status. On the average, the mineral contents were 190.3 mu g/100 ml (iron), 60.1 mu g/100 ml (copper), 44.0 mu g/160 ml (strontium), 22.5 mu g/100 ml (arsenic), 20.0 mu g/100 ml (zinc), 19.7 mu g/100 ml (selenium), 19.3 mu g/100 ml (boron) and 14.6 mu g/100 ml (barium). Other minerals like aluminium (3.7 mu g/100 ml), molybdenum (2.9 mu g/100 ml), chromium (2.0 mu g/100 ml), nickel (1.8 mu g/100 ml), lead (1.5 mu g/100 ml), manganese (0.16 mu g/100 ml), cobalt (0.08 mu g/100 ml) and cadmium (0.07 mu g/100 ml) were in very small concentration. Age, sex and physiological effects were assessed for some parameters. According to the lack of references in camel species, it is difficult to link those results to polluting context. But those data could contribute to understand the heavy metal status in camel confronted to pollution.