Evaluating the toxicological potential of cadmium in wheat cultivars grown in soils amended with different types of organic fertilizers: Risk assessment for public health

Abstract

Heavy metal contaminated food crops are one of the major public health concerns these days. The present study evaluates the Cd uptake in some promising wheat varieties subjected to soils amended with different types of organic fertilizers/matter. For this purpose, both pot and field experiments were conducted at the same time in Sargodha, Pakistan. Cadmium uptake in soil and different wheat plant parts were higher in the pot experiment than that in the field experiment. In both experiments, Cd ranged from 0.075 to 0.030 mg/kg in soil, 0.64 to 1.01 mg/kg in root, 0.63 to1.00 mg/kg in shoot and 0.65 to 1.01 mg/kg in grains. Among all soil amendments, farm-yard manure was found to be very effective in mitigating the uptake of Cd in wheat plants. Of all wheat varieties, Gold-16 and Ihsan-16 showed maximum Cd uptake, whereas the minimum Cd uptake was displayed by cv. DHharabi-11. In both experiments, all different indices showed values lower than 1 except the bio-concentration factor. Overall, Cd absorption observed in the present soil-wheat system was lower than the standard Cd absorption values. This study recommends that farmers may use organic soil amendments in this area to increase the fertility of soil. But regular examination practices must be carried out in this area, to limit the exposure to Cd hazards of public being provided Cd contaminated grains.