Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Health risk assessment of heavy metals in crop grains grown on open soils of Kanwar wetland, India

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study describes the concentration of heavy metals (Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd) in water, soil and the major crop grains of wheat, maize and rice. The concentrations (mg/L) of Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd in irrigating water were recorded in the range of 0.09–0.15, 1.14–1.49, 1.21–1.86, 6.11–8.14, 1.71–1.99 and 0.03–0.05, respectively, while in the soil, their variations were in a range of 22–264, 89–1142, 8–132, 294–636, 10–360 and 0–3 mg/kg, respectively. Except for Zn in irrigation water and Cu in the soil, other heavy metals were recorded above the permissible values. In crop grains, the concentrations (mg/kg) of Cr (32–46.63), Mn (8.14–25.7), Pb (89–104.5) and Cd (0.9–1.25) were recorded above the permissible limits prescribed by different international and Indian agencies for edible items, while Zn (5.5–9.63) was under the permissible limit. The wheat grains showed the highest translocation of heavy metals from the soil environment, which was followed by rice and maize grains. The most common health issues recorded among the population were problems of the skin, stomach, blood pressure, kidney and nervous systems.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agbogidi OM, Eruotor PG, Akparobi SO, Nnaji GU (2007) Heavy metal contents of maize (Zea mays L.) grown in soil contaminated with crude oil. Inter J Bot 3(4):385–389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Al-Othman ZA, Ali R, Al-Otham AM, Ali J, Habila MA (2012) Assessment of toxic metals in wheat crops grown on selected soils, irrigated by different water sources. Arab J Chem 9:1555–1562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ambastha K, Hussain SA, Badola R (2007) Resource dependence and attitudes of local people toward conservation of Kabartal wetland: a case study of Indo-Gangetic plains. Wetl Ecol Manag 15:287–302

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APHA (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and waste water, 21st edn. American Water Works Association/Water environment Federation, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • ATSDR (2004) Toxicological profile for copper. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services

  • ATSDR (2007) Toxicological profile for lead. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services

  • ATSDR (2012a) Toxicological profile for Chromium. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services

  • ATSDR (2012b) Toxicological profile for Manganese. Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Services

  • Awashthi SK (2000) Prevention of Food Adulteration Act no. 37 of 1954. Central and State Rules as Amended for 1999. Ashoka Law House, New Delhi

  • Bai J, Xiao R, Cui B, Zhang K, Wang Q, Liu X, Gao H, Huang L (2011) Assessment of heavy metal pollution in wetland soils from the young and old reclaimed regions in the Pearl River Estuary, South China. Environ Pollut 159:817–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bassi N, Kumar MD, Sharma A, Pardha-Saradhi P (2014) Status of wetlands in India: a review of extent, ecosystem benefits, threats and management strategies. J. Hydrol Reg Stud 2:1–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • BIS (1991) Indian standards for surface water. New Delhi, IS: 2296

  • Brown RS, Hausler DW, Hellgeth JW, Taylor LT (1982) Application of Inductively Coupled Plasma Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) to metal quantitation and speciation in synfuels. ACS Syn Ser 205:163–183

    Google Scholar 

  • Chary SN, Kamala CT, Samuael Suman RD (2008) Assessing risk of heavy metals from consuming food grown on sewage irrigated soils and food chain transfer. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 69(3):513–524

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • CODEX Alimenttarius (2001) Maximum levels of heavy metals in cereals, pulses and legumes. Joint FAO/WHO standards, CAC/GL 39.c

  • Cohen AS (2003) Paliolimnology. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Dhanakumar S, Murthy KR, Solaraj G, Mohanraj R (2013) Heavy metal fractionation in surface sediments of the Cauvery River estuarine region, the Southeastern coast of India. Arch Environ Cont Toxicol 65:14–23

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Duffus JH (2002) Heavy metals—a meaningless term. Pure Appl Chem 74(5):793–807

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumat C, Quenea K, Bermond A, Toien S, Benedetti MF (2006) Study of trace metal ion on the turnover of soil organic matter in cultivated contaminated soils. Environ Pollut 142:521–529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Union (2006) Commission regulation (EC) No. 1881/2006 of 19 December 2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs. Off J Eur Union L. 364:5–24

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO (1983) Compilation of legal limits for hazardous substances in fish and fishery products. FAO Fish Circ 464:5p–100p

    Google Scholar 

  • FAO/WHO (2011) Joint FAO/WHO food standards programme codex committee on contaminants in foods, 5th session, pp 64-89

  • GB2762-2012 (2012) Maximum levels of contaminants in foods. National food safety standards, National standards of the people’s republic of China. http://www.chinesestandard.net

  • GRBEMP (2013) Ganga river basin environment management plan: interim report. Indian Institute of Technologies consortium, Kanpur, pp 1–133

    Google Scholar 

  • Gupta N, Khan DK, Santra SC (2008) An assessment of heavy metal contamination in vegetables grown in wastewater irrigated area of Titagarh, West Bengal, India. Bull Environ Cont Toxicol 80:115–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu MJ, Selvaraj K, Agoramurthy G (2006) Taiwan’s industrial heavy metal pollution threatens terrestrial biota. Environ Pollut 143:327–334

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Khan S, Rehman S, Khan AZ, Khan MA, Shah MIT (2010) Soil and vegetables enrichment with heavy metals from geological sources in Gilgit, northern Pakistan. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 73(7):1820–1827

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar M (2013) Resource inventory analysis of Kabartal wetland. Res Humt Soc Sci 1(8):13–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Kumar A, Sharma IK, Sharma A, Varshney S, Verma PS (2009) Heavy metals contamination of vegetable foodstuffs in Jaipur (India). Electron J Environ Agri Food Chem 8(2):96–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Nasir UP, Harikumar PS (2011) Ecotoxicity and ecosystem health of a Ramsar wetland system of India. J Environ Protect 2:710–719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Purushothaman P, Chakrapani GJ (2007) Heavy metals fractionation in Ganga River Sediments, India. Environ Mont Assess 132:475–489

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ranjan RK, Sinha AK, Gupta D, Sappal SM, Kumar A, Ramanathan AL (2016) Sediment geochemistry of Kabartal wetland, Begusarai, Bihar, India. J Appl Geochem 18:414–429

    Google Scholar 

  • Rashad M, Shalab EA (2007) Dispersion and deposition of heavy metals around two Municipal solid waste (MSW) dumpsites, Alexandria, Egypt. Am Eurasian J Agr Environ Sci 2(3):204–212

    Google Scholar 

  • Rattan RK, Datta SP, Chhonkar PK, Suribabu K, Singh AK (2005) Long-term impact of irrigation with waste water effluents on heavy metal content in soils, crops and groundwater - a case study. Agr Ecosys Environ 109:310–322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roy SP, Ramanand R, Prabhakar AK, Singh JP (2008) Sustainable development of Kanwar Lake, Begusarai (North-Bihar, India). In: Sengupta M, Dalwani R, editors. Proceedings of Taal 2007: the 12th world Lake Conference, 2008, pp 1578-1585

  • SAIF-IIT Bombay (2018) http://www.rsic.iitb.ac.in/icp-aes.html

  • Sarthi PP, Singh AK (2013) A simple approach about the characteristics of available surface water in Bihar state of India. Geosci 3(2):68–76

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwartz WL, Malanson GP, Weirich FH (1996) Effect of landscape position on the sediment chemistry of abandoned channel wetlands. Landsc Ecol 11(1):27–38

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma RK, Agrawal M, Marshall FM (2007) Heavy metals contamination in soil and vegetables in Suburban area of Varanasi, India. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 66:258–266

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharma RK, Agrawal M, Marshall FM (2009) Heavy metals in vegetables collected from production and market sites of tropical urban areas of India. Food Chem Toxicol 47:583–591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Jayakumar S (2016) Water quality assessment of Kanwar Lake, Begusarai, Bihar, India. Imp J Interdis Res 2:793–803

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh AK, Jayakumar S (2017) Heavy metal contamination in sediments of Kanwarjheel Wildlife Sanctuary, Bihar, India. Pollut Res 36:48–58

    Google Scholar 

  • Singh S, Kumar M (2006) Heavy metal load of soil, water and vegetables in periurban Delhi. Environ Monitor Assess 120:79–91

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh A, Sharma RK, Agrwal M, Marshall FM (2010a) Health risk assessment of heavy metals via dietary intake of food stuffs from wastewater irrigated site of a dry tropical area of India. Food Chem Tech 48:611–619

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh A, Sharma RK, Agrwal M, Marshall FM (2010b) Risk assessment of heavy metal toxicity through contaminated vegetables from waste water irrigated areas of Varanasi, India. Trop Ecol 51:375–387

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinha S, Gupta AK, Bhatt K, Pandey K, Rai UN, Singh KP (2006) Distribution of metals in the edible plants grown at Jajmua, Kanpur (India) receiving treated tannery wastewater, relation with physiochemical properties of soil. Environ Monit Assess 115:1–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smeda A, Zyrnicki W (2002) Application of sequential extraction and the ICP-AES method for study of the partitioning of metals in fly ashes. Microchem J 72:9–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun C, Liu J, Wang Y, Sun L, Yu H (2013) Multivariate and geostatistical analyses of the spatial distribution and sources of heavy metals in agricultural soil in Dehui, Northeast China. Chemosphere 92(5):517–523

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tinker PB (1981) Levels, distribution and chemical forms of trace elements in food plants. Philos Trans Bot 294:41–55

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • US-EPA IRIS (2006) Integrated risk information system. http://www.epa.gov/iris/substS

  • Yoon J, Cao X, Zhou Q, Ma LQ (2006) Accumulation of Pb, Cu, and Zn in native plants growing on a contaminated Florida site. Sci Total Environ 368:456–464

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Ministry of Environment and Forest, Government of Bihar, India, for the permission to conduct the work in Kanwar wetland area. We are obliged to the Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India, for providing the laboratory facility and financial assistance to finish the work successfully.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Informatics and Spatial Modeling Lab (EISML), Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, 605014, India

    Ajeet Kumar Singh, M. Sathya, Satyam Verma & S. Jayakumar

Authors
  1. Ajeet Kumar Singh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. M. Sathya
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Satyam Verma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S. Jayakumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to S. Jayakumar.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

There is no conflict of interest among the co-authors, and the primary author confirms that this original research article is not under consideration for publication anywhere else.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, A.K., Sathya, M., Verma, S. et al. Health risk assessment of heavy metals in crop grains grown on open soils of Kanwar wetland, India. Euro-Mediterr J Environ Integr 3, 29 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-018-0073-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41207-018-0073-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation