Does the chromium element in forages and fodders grown in contaminated pasture lands cause toxicity in livestock: Assessing the potential risk

Abstract

Contamination of the ecosystem is a highly concerning issue as various types of pollutants get released into the environment which ultimately enter the food chain and create disturbance there. This study reported the chromium concentrations in the buffalo blood, soil and forages. The heavy metals from the toxic smoke get accumulated in the forage and the buffalos consuming this contaminated forage. This study was carried out in Sargodha during December 2015 to January 2016 (winter) and May 2016 to June 2016 (summer). Five road sites (Mateela, Faisalabad roadside, Shaheenabad roadside, Bhalwal roadside and 50 chak were selected from sampling of forages, soil and buffalo blood sample. In order to find out chromium in the soil, forages and blood samples, the atomic absorption spectrophotometer was used. The values of chromium in soil and forage samples were found highest at Site-II, while the amount of chromium in buffalo blood samples was highest collected from Site- III. The bio-concentration factor for forage and soil was found highest at Site-III. The bio-concentration factor for blood and forage was highest at Site-VI. The correlation was found positive and significant when soil-forage was correlated. On the other hand, negative significant was found for chromium when blood-forage was correlated. The pollution load index, daily intake and health risk index was highest in the samples collected from Site-IV.