trace element

trace element defined in 1951 year

trace element - trace element;trace element - An element which must be available to an organism for its normal health though it is necessary only in minute amounts. E.g. higher plants need traces of at least the elements zinc, boron, manganese, molybdenum, and copper; lack of these may produce economically serious disease, such as 'heart-rot' of sugar beet (boron deficiency). In animals such deficiency disease is also known, e.g. 'coast disease' of cattle and sheep in Australia from lack of cobalt. In man, thyroid deficiency (goitre, cretinism) may be due to lack of semi-trace element, iodine. See also: Thyroid. Trace elements are probably constituents of enzyme systems (Compare with: vitamins); and also, in animals, of hormones.