Paper Title
Content of Selenium in Agricultural Soils From Central and Southeast Europe

Abstract
Selenium (Se) is an essential micro-nutrient for human and animals but it is highly toxic element. Its organic compounds play an important role in biochemistry and nutrition of the cells. Concentration levels of this element in the different regions of the world vary considerably. Scarcedatafor Central and South East Europeancountriesindicate a seriouslack of SewhichraisesconcernsabouthumanhealthintheregionThisstudyaimed to comparetheavailabilityandlevels of theseleniuminsomeruralareas of Central and South East europeandrelationshipwiththeconcentrations of othertraceelements. For this purpose soil samples from different regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece situated far from large industrial centers have been collected and analyzed. Themainmethodsfortheirdeterminationweretheatomicspectraltechniques – atomicabsorptionandplasmaatomicemission. As a result of thisstudy, dataonmicroelementslevelsfromthemaingrain-producingregions of Central andSoutheast Europe were determined and systematized. The content of Se was in the range of 0.018- 0.064 mg.kg-1 and the other trace elements were in the range of 5.7 - 70.3 mg.kg-1 for Cu, 0.05 - 0.24 mg.kg-1 for Cd, 18.10 - 155.35 mg.kg-1 for Zn, 268.22 - 810.33 mg.kg-1 for Mn and 3.75 - 50.26 mg.kg-1 for Pb. Keywords - Agricultural Soils, Selenium, Rural Areas, Trace Elements.