ACCUMULATION OF METALS IN WHEAT CROP GROWN IN WASTEWATER CONTAMINATED SOIL IN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN Running head:Heavy metals in wheat grown in contaminated soil

Abstract

aDepartment of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; zikhan11@gmail.com
 KafeelAHMAD a,
 aDepartment of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; kafeeluaf@yahoo.com
 AsmaASHFAQ a,
 aDepartment of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; aasmashfaq@gmail.com
 FAUZIA BATOOL a,
 aDepartment of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; f.batool99@yahoo.com
 NaunainMAHMOOD b,
 bDepartment of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; naunainmahood@gmail.com 0000-0001-7852-9113
 HUMAYUN BASHIR
 aDepartment of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan; humayunuos@gmail.com
 HAFSA MEMOONA
 bDepartment of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan;hafsamemooa@gmail.com
 KHALID NAWAZ
 bDepartment of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Pakistan;humayunuos1@gmail.com
 YunusDOGAN c*,
 cBuca Faculty of Education, DokuzEylul University, Izmir, Turkey;
 *Corresponding author: yunus.dogan@deu.edu.tr 0000-0001-9404-6031
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 BSTRACT 
 The cheap way of disposal of wastewater is to use it in agriculture. The pressure in using fresh water resources may alleviate by the domestic wastewater in agriculture. Waste water holds significant quantity of plant nutrients like N, P, Ca, K, Co, Zn and Mn. Therefore, it increases the crop yield. Triticumaestivum is staple food crop for Pakistan where it is an important caloric source. It is grown successfully on rain fed areas of the country as well as in irrigated areas with minimum water without losing its production potential. In this study, cadmium (Cd), nickel (Ni), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), and cobalt (Co) were evaluated, effect of wastewater was studied on wheat variety (Punjab-2011) by applying different treatments of wastewater. Comparison between five different treatments, in soil, the Fe was highest. The chromium in current findings exceeded the permissible limit (0.03 mg/kg) in wheat grains. The reason of high Cr concentration might be due to the increased usage of wastewater for long period. The level of pollution or factor of contamination was lowest of Zn and was highest for Cd in all treatments. The chromium has lowest the value of health risk index while Cd has highest value in all treatments indicating that exposed population is unlikely to experience obvious adverse effects on utilization of these contaminated grains of wheat.
 Keywords:wheat (Punjab-2011); heavy metals; wastewater; health risk;soil