Response of Japanese quail fed seed meal from sunflowers grown on a municipal sludge-amended soil: elevation of cadmium in tissues.

Sunflowers were grown on soil amended with 224 metric tons/ha of municipal sewage sludge from Syracuse, N.Y. The yield of sunflower seeds was reduced by 47.2% by the sludge addition. The harvested seeds contained 1.71 ppm dry weight of cadmium. Deoiled seed meal was incorporated as 25 and 50% of semipurified diet and fed to male and female Japanese quail. The concentrations of cadmium were higher in kidney, liver, muscle, and eggs of birds fed the sludge-grown seed meal as compared to control quail. Tissue concentrations of cadmium increased with increasing dietary levels of sludge-grown seed meal. No significant differences (p greater than 0.05) were observed between dietary treatments in the activity of hepatic microsomal p-nitroanisole O-demethylase or aminopyrine N-demethylase in the male birds. Additionally, no mutagenic activity, either direct or with metabolic activation, was found in quail eggs. No observable changes in tissue ultrastructure were observed under electron microscopy in any of the treatment groups. There were no significant (p greater than 0.05) differences among the dietary treatment groups in feed intake, growth rate, egg production, or egg hatchability.