PJB-2019-649
Exploration of status and intensity of Pb and Cd pollution in roadside soils and cereal grains
Atif Muhmood, Abdul Majeed, Abid Niaz, Asrar Hussain Shah and Abdul Wakeel
Abstract
Heavy metal pollution is becoming one of the major problems around the globe resulting from the increase in population, urbanization, and industrialization. Therefore, it is need of time and important to quantify the level of heavy metals especially Pb and Cd in the soils and cereals grown along the highways. Here, we explore the status and intensity of Pb and Cd pollution in roadside soils and cereals grown on these fields. A total of 500 soil and 250-grain samples were collected from the wheat and rice field located along the road from Faisalabad to Sheikupura and Sheikupura to Lahore. The outcomes depicted that the contents of Pb and Cd in the soils from the wheat fields located along Faisalabad to Sheikupura was ranged from 1.18 to 4.98 mg kgˉ¹ and from 0.008 to 0.62 mg kgˉ¹ respectively. Together these new data shows that the contents of both Pb and Cd in the soils from the wheat field located along the Sheikupura to Lahore road were lower than the soils from the fields along Faisalabad to Sheikupura road. The average contents of Pb and Cd recorded in the grains of wheat and rice grown along the road from Faisalabad to Sheikupura was 278 and 75.3 µg kgˉ¹ respectively and 269 and 39.5 µg kgˉ¹ respectively. Therefore, growing cereals in the vicinity of highways and heavy industries for longer times may cause heavy metals accumulation in the cereal grains.
To Cite this article:
Muhmood, A., A. Majeed, A. Niaz, A.H. Shah and A. Wakeel. 2021. Exploration of status and intensity of Pb and Cd pollution in roadside soils and cereal grains. Pak. J. Bot., 53(5): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2021-5(5)
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