Study of Some of Heavy Metals in Poaceae Triticum, Zea Maize, and Hordeum Vulgare and Non-Carcinogenic Quantitative Risk Assessment: Kashafroud River, Mashhad

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), corn (Zea Maize), and tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) are among the most important components of food. This paper provides the first quantitative information on accumulation of heavy metals (lead, cadmium, and arsenic) in ground (soils) overground (leaves) and underground (roots) parts of wheat, corn, and tomatoaround the Kashafroud River in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran.

The concentrations of lead, cadmium, and arsenic were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry, graphite furnace (GBC GF3000).

Statistical analysis showed that there is a significant difference among the cadmium concentrations of soil, roots and leaves/grain in various plants (p<0.01 for wheat and corn and p=0.0004 for tomato). There was not a significant difference among the lead concentrations of soil, roots and grain in wheat (p>0.05), but there was a significant difference for other plants (p<0.01 for corn and tomato). Furthermore, statistical analysis was done for arsenic concentrations of soil, roots and leaves/grain in wheat and tomato (p>0.05 for wheat and p=0.026 for tomato).

The results of this study were compared with global standards. As well as in this monitoring, health risk assessment by EPA/WHO instructions has been done. The concentrations of lead, cadmium, and arsenic in soil were below the limits proposed by WHO, EPA, and EU. The results of the present study aimed to provide data from Kashafroud River as indicators of natural and anthropogenic impacts on aquatic ecosystem as well as to evaluate the human hazard index associated with wheat consumption. Health risk assessment of consumers from the intake of metal contaminated was evaluated by using Total Hazard Quotient (THQ) calculations. In this study, the THQ through consumption of wheat was less than 1, indicating that there is no significant potential health risk associated with the consumption of wheat from the around the Kashafroud River.