Assessment of heavy metals was carried out to determine the concentrations of copper, cadmium, nickel and lead in chicken feeds obtained from Uyo metropolis, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Three feed types (starter, layer and finisher) of three commercially available brands (X, Y and Z) were purchased from markets in the city. The samples were prepared for analysis by wet digestion method and heavy metals analysis was carried out using an Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The mean concentration of heavy metals (mg/kg) were in dry weight; the levels of copper varied from 5.69 to 26.79 mg/kg and were found to be present in the sequence; Finisher > Starter > Layer. The observed mean values of Cd ranged between 0.18 to 1.47 mg/kg and the levels of Cd in the different brand of feed increase with the trend, Z > Y > X. The mean concentration of nickel ranged from 0.80 - 4.78 mg/kg and the contamination sequence of nickel for the different feeds were Starter> Layer > Finisher, while the levels of lead in the different brands of feed were in the range of 0.00 - 2.4 mg/kg. The observed levels of copper and lead were low in the feed while amongst all the different brands studied, Cd mean values of 1.02 ± 0.73 for Z was slightly above the recommended limit of 1.0 mg/kg. Furthermore, Nickel concentrations were slightly higher in the feed samples analyzed, when compared with the recommended limits. Statistically, it is observed that the Fcrit > Fcal (3.44 > 0.41) for the types of feed, therefore there is no statistically significant difference between the types of feed evidence at α = 0.05, as confirmed by a P value of 0.67. t- test analysis showed that, there was no significant difference in Cd between Y and Z brands as the observed P0.05 was for two samples assuming equal variances were 0.41 and 0.82 for one tail and two tail respectively and the observed P value for two samples assuming unequal variances were 0.42 and 0.84 for one tail and two tail respectively. The heavy metals load in the different types of feeds was found to be at non-toxic concentrations, except for cadmium and nickel. These metal contaminations may arise from environmental factors, production line processes, poor handling and storage by the retailers. The deficiency or the elevation of these heavy metals affects the normal physiological activity and biochemical process of the chicken which in turn affect the health of humans.
This study investigates the accumulation of heavy metals in the tissues of Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) in the study area and evaluating the human health risk of their consumption. The tissues of concern were the gills, muscles and hepatopancreas in the male and female crab species, while the heavy metals assessed were Cd, Ni and Pb. Heavy metals levels in the tissues of Callinectes sapidus ranged as follow: Ni: hepatopancreas (182.97–313.53 mg/kg), gills (129.93–192.14mg/kg), muscles (93.09–165.84 mg/kg); Pb: hepatopancreas (22.86–39.65 mg/kg), gills (13.46–21.35 mg/kg), muscles (2.73 – 6.32 mg/kg); Cd: hepatopancreas (2.04 –9.03 mg/kg), gills (0.12–4.995 mg/kg), muscles (0.105–2.835 mg/kg), respectively. The highest metal concentrations were observed in the hepatopancreas tissue and in the female of the crab species. Furthermore, the metals’ levels were generally higher than the permissible level by FAO/WHO in seafood. To assess the heavy metals health risk to the inhabitants of the study area, the daily intake of metal (DIM) and total hazard Quotient (THQ) were estimated and were found to exceed the recommended values. The results reflect the risk of exposure for the period of life expectancy considered, and revealed that the inhabitants of the study area are highly exposed to the health risks associated with these metals.
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