The regional distribution of selenium in Greek cereals.

The selenium content of hard and soft wheat, barley, oats, rye and corn grown in approximately 100 different locations of Greece has been determined fluorimetrically. The mean values +/- SD for these cereal types were 0.29 +/- 0.19, 0.21 +/- 0.12, 0.16 +/- 0.10, 0.14 +/- 0.10, 0.19 +/- 0.10 and 0.12 +/- 0.08 ppm Se (dry weight basis), respectively. Based on data for selenium in corn from 96 different locations, a geobotanic map of Greece for the selenium in soil available for uptake by plants was prepared. Macedonia, West Epirus, south-east Thessaly, north-east Sterea Hellas and the Aegean Islands produce corn deficient or low in selenium, but only sporadic selenium-deficiency diseases in animals have been observed in many of these areas, probably because the farm animals are given mixed food or they are free to graze. No areas with toxic levels of selenium in soil were found.