Atta Muhammad Imran, Zehra Syeda Sadaf, Dai Dong-Qin, Ali Habib, Naveed Khalid, Ali Iftikhar, Sarwar Muhammad, Ali Basharat, Iqbal Rashid, Bawazeer Sami, Abdel-Hameed Usama K, Ali Iftikhar
Department of Botany, The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Bahawalpur, Pakistan.
Center for Yunnan Plateau Biological Resources Protection and Utilization, Yunnan Engineering Research Center of Fruit Wine, College of Biological Resource and Food Engineering, Qujing Normal University, Qujing, China.
Front Plant Sci. 2023 Jan 16;13:1080635. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.1080635. eCollection 2022.
Human health is the main concern related to use of crop products irrigated with contaminated irrigation sources. Present research has been conducted to explore heavy metal status of sewage and industrial wastewater being used up for irrigation purpose in the peri-urban areas of the district Dera Ghazi Khan which has not been explored widely before. The analysis also followed heavy metal detection in the subsequent irrigated soil and vegetables/crop plants in relation to assessment of health risk to the consumer to plan the future monitoring in this area. An unremitting boost of heavy metals into the environment from wastewater irrigation has become a global issue. These heavy metals enter the food chain and pose health assumptions to consumers upon utilization. In the present study, an investigation has been conducted to determine metal concentrations in the wastewater, soil, and different plant species. For wastewater samples, pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), and selected heavy metals such as Al, As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn, and Ni were determined. The mean values of heavy metals in the soil samples were within the WHO/FAO safe limit, while Cr and Pb were the most frequent (100%) among the metals. However, differentiating the sites, the concentration of Cr and Cu, Ni, and Fe were elevated. The metal transfer was highly effective from soil to the growing plants i.e. brinjal, red corn, wheat, tomato, and spinach than other plant species. Among the metals, Cr, Ni, Mn, and Pb in plant samples were exceeding the WHO/FAO safe limit. Health risk index (HRI) have revealed the possible potential risk of heavy metal contaminated plant species in the order of spinach (6.4) > wheat (6.4) > brinjal (5.9) > tomato (4.7) > red corn (4.5) > apple gourd (4.3) > white corn (3.8) > cabbage (3.1) > luffa (2.9). Likewise, HRI of different metals was calculated as Cu (19.6) > Zn (17.9) > Cr (2.95) > Ni (0.85) > Mn (0.48) > Fe (0.15) > Cd (0.11) > Pb (0.05) > As (0.00001). The level of HRI through the use of dietary plants revealed an elevated risk level than the acceptable limit (HRI > 1) for Cu > Zn > Cr in adults. Our findings suggest that there would be a serious health risk to the consumers due to the consumption of these plant species being irrigated with the wastewater. Therefore, a strict regulatory mechanism is proposed for the safety of food plants in the study area including monitoring and recycling of crop plants, and building water treatment plants to remove pollutants and clean wastewater.
人类健康是与使用受污染灌溉水源灌溉的农作物产品相关的主要关注点。目前已开展研究，以探索德拉加齐汗地区城郊用于灌溉目的的污水和工业废水的重金属状况，此前该地区尚未得到广泛研究。分析还对后续灌溉土壤以及蔬菜/农作物中的重金属进行了检测，以评估对消费者的健康风险，从而规划该地区未来的监测工作。废水灌溉导致重金属不断排入环境已成为一个全球性问题。这些重金属进入食物链，会对消费者的健康构成威胁。在本研究中，开展了一项调查，以确定废水、土壤和不同植物物种中的金属浓度。对于废水样本，测定了pH值、总溶解固体（TDS）、电导率（EC）以及铝、砷、铬、铜、铁、锰、铅、锌和镍等选定的重金属。土壤样本中重金属的平均值在世卫组织/粮农组织的安全限值范围内，而铬和铅是这些金属中最常见的（100%）。然而，不同地点的铬、铜、镍和铁的浓度有所升高。金属从土壤转移到生长中的植物（即茄子、红玉米、小麦、番茄和菠菜）的效率高于其他植物物种。在植物样本中，铬、镍、锰和铅超过了世卫组织/粮农组织的安全限值。健康风险指数（HRI）显示，重金属污染植物物种的潜在风险顺序为：菠菜（6.4）＞小麦（6.4）＞茄子（5.9）＞番茄（4.7）＞红玉米（4.5）＞苹果瓜（4.3）＞白玉米（3.8）＞卷心菜（3.1）＞丝瓜（2.9）。同样，不同金属的HRI计算结果为：铜（19.6）＞锌（17.9）＞铬（2.95）＞镍（0.85）＞锰（0.48）＞铁（0.15）＞镉（0.11）＞铅（0.05）＞砷（0.00001）。通过食用食用植物得出的HRI水平显示，成年人中铜＞锌＞铬的风险水平高于可接受限值（HRI＞1）。我们的研究结果表明，食用这些用废水灌溉的植物物种会给消费者带来严重的健康风险。因此，建议在研究区域建立严格的监管机制，以保障食用植物的安全，包括对农作物进行监测和循环利用，以及建设污水处理厂以去除污染物和净化废水。
