Evaluation of health risk to humans in consumption of wheat grown in nickel-contaminated soils

Document Type : Brief Communication

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Agriculture, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

2 Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In this research, accumulation and distribution of nickel in root, leaves and stem and grains of wheat were studied to assess the health of wheat grain for human consumption. A greenhouse experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Wheat was grown under two nickel concentrations in soil (0.0 and 100 mg kg-1). At maturity, wheat was divided into its parts (root, leaves and stem, grain) and nickel concentrations were measured in plant parts. Results indicated that the highest nickel (132.8 mg kg-1 plant tissue) was accumulated in roots which was 12 times more than nickel accumulated in shoots, suggesting that no actual remediation was occurred by wheat. Under high concentrations of nickel, wheat grains are not suitable for human consumption, because health risk index was achieved 130.27 and 169.40 for adults and children, respectively. However, because wheat was able to grow under high concentrations of nickel, this plant can be considered as a tolerant plant to nickel stress. Further research is needed to determine the ultimate limit of nickel concentrations in soils where the accumulation of nickel in the grains is not such a high amount that it threatens human health.

Keywords

References

1. Parlak KU. Effect of nickel on growth and biochemical characteristics of wheat sedlings. NJAS-Wageningen J Life Sci 2016;76:1-5.
2. Gajewska E, Niewiadomska E, Tokarz K, Slaba M, Sklodowska M. Nickel-induced changes in carbon metabolism in wheat shoots. J Plant Physiol 2013;170(4):369-77.
3. Dalir N, Khoshgoftarmanesh AH. Root uptake and translocation of nickel in wheat as affected by histidine. J Plant Physiol 2015;184:8-14.
4. Salimi M, Amin MM, Ebrahimi A, Ghazifard A, Najafi P, Amini H, et al. Influence of salinity on phytoremediation of cadmium on contaminated soils. J Health Res 2012;7(6):1130-7. [In Persian]
5. Khan S, Farooq R, Shahbaz SH, Aziz Khan M, Sadique M. Health risk assessment of heavy metals for population via consumption of vegetables. World Applied Sci J 2009;6(12):1602-6.
6. Liphadzi MS, Kirkham MB. Availability and plant uptake of heavy metals in EDTA-assisted phytoremediation of soil and composted bio solids. S Afr J Bot. 2006;72(3):391-7.
7. Adiloglu S, Saglam T, Adiloglu A, Sume A. Phytoremediation of nickel (Ni) from agricultural soils using canola. Desalin Water Treat 2016; 57(6): 2383-8.
8. Memon AR, Aktoprakligil D, Ozdemir A, Vertli A. Heavy metal accumulation and detoxification mechanisms in plants. Turkish Journal of Botany 2000;25(3):111-21.
9. Eskandari H, Aliadeh-Amraie A. Ability of some crops for phytoremediation of nickel and zinc heavy metals from contaminated soils. J Adv Environ Health Res 2016;4(4):234-9.
10. Dmuchowski W, Gozdowski D, Braoszewska P, Baczewska AH, Suwara I. Phytoremediation of zinc contaminated soils using silver birch . Ecol Engineer 2014;71:32-5.
11. Pandey VC. Suitability of Ricinus communis L. cultivation for phytoremediation of fly ash disposal sites. Eco Engineer. 2013; 336-41.
12. Sajwan KS, Ornes WH, Youngblood TV, Alva AK. Uptake of soil applied cadmium, nickel and selenium by bush beans. Water Air Soil Pollution 1995;91(3-4):209-17.
13. Beigi Harchegani H, Banitalebi G. The effect of twenty-three years of surface irrigation with treated municipality wastewater on soil loadings transfer to wheat and corn grains and related health risks of some heavy metals. J Water Soil 2013;27(3):570-80.
14. Chen ZF, Zhao Y, Zhu Y, Yang X, Qiao J, Tianc Q, et al. Health risks of heavy metals in sewage-irrigated soils and edible seeds in Langfang of Hebei province, China. J Sci Food Agric 2009;90(2): 314-20
15. Rattan RK, Datta SP, Chhonkar PK, Suribabu K, Singh AK. Long-term impact of irrigation with sewage effluents on heavy metal content in soils, crops and groundwater, a case study. Agriculture, Ecosys Environ 2005;109:310–22.
16. Wang XL, Sato T, Xing BS, Tao S. Health risks of heavy metals to the general public in Tianjin, China via consumption of vegetables and fish. Sci Total Environ 2005;350(1-3):28–37.
17. Allen HE, Huang CP, Bailey GW, Bowers A.R. Metal Speciation and contamination of soil.Boca raton,Fla.: Lewis Publishers; 1995.
18. Vaseghi S, Afyouni M, Shariatmadari H, Mobali M. Effect of wastewater and soil pH on micronutrient and heavy metal uptake. J Agric Natu Resource 2003;3:95-105.
19. Hassan N, Mahmood Q, Waseem A, Irshad M, Pervez FA. Assessment of heavy metals in wheat plants irrigated with contaminated wastewater. Pol J Environ Stud 2013;22(1):115-23.
Journal of Advances in Environmental Health Research
Volume 6, Issue 1
March 2018
Pages 17-20

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics