Vol-7, Special Issue-Number4-June, 2016, pp945-949 http://www.bipublication.com
Case Report
Assessment of Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils by Mesocricetus Brandti
(Turkish. Hamster)
Fereshteh Ali Akbari
Islamic Azad University-
Tabriz Branch Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages
ABSTRACT
Turkish hamster (Mesocricetus brandti) is the only species of the genus Mesocricetus which has been reported in Iran's East Azarbaijan, West Azarbaijan, Ardebil, Kurdistan and Lorestan provinces. The amount of lead and cadmium in the liver and muscle tissue of this species were measured and were compared with each other in different geographic locations. The results of this study showed that most amounts of these elements can be seen in the samples of agricultural areas in which use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is common. And the lowest of these elements were recorded in barren lands and pasture. Besides the analysis reveals that there is no difference between the sexes in the absorption of these elements. Non-parametric test used to observe the differences in gender and morphological characteristics such as weight and the density of these metals did not show a significant relationship. The results of this research shows that, according to the abundance of this species in agricultural lands, it can be used as an indicator species for refining operation of the environmental pollution in agricultural ecosystems.
Keywords: heavy metals, pesticides, chemical fertilizers, agricultural land, hamsters Turkish
INTRODUCTION
The process of accumulation of heavy metals in soil is very slow and its effect is detectable after decades. Because the accumulation process is almost an irreversible process, in the long run it reduce the quality of the soil and eventually led to the destruction of agricultural lands (Amini, 2006). So to achieve sustainable development, especially in agricultural section, the collection of basic environmental information for vital resources such as soil, is essential.th refining of the accumulation of heavy metals in small mammals can be considered as an index of the health of ecosystems and accordingly human societies, so conducting such researches for producing information can be considered necessary. Up to now the accumulation of various pollutants in the soil rodents in agricultural land in
the country has not been studied. Such studies can be helpful for the protection of ecosystems and existence of organisms as well as obtaining information about the geoaccumulation of pollutants. Due to repeated feeding from agricultural products, Turkish Hamster species can be a good indicator of the amount of pollutants in agricultural ecosystems, and the obtained results which are indicator of pollution ass well, can be extended to humans.
serious and expanding problems with which the human of present era is facing (Torabiyan, 2002). There are two sources for heavy metal pollution of soil: natural resources and human resources. Natural resources include the entrance of heavy metals through the erosion of the parental materials of soil, so it is related to the geology of the area. The industries of iron and steel, mining, road transportation, burning of residues and specially the use of fertilizers and chemical materials in agriculture are of the important Human resources of the entrance of heavy metals to soil and water in surface ecosystems (Hanson, 2002; Hutton, 2001; Yalcin, 2007). The use of fertilizers and chemicals on agricultural lands leaded to the increase of the concentrations of heavy metals such as chromium, cobalt, cadmium, lead, copper, zinc in these areas (Lado, 2008). The pollution by heavy metals, not only directly affects the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, decrease of biological activities and decrease of bioavailability of soil nutrition, but also considered as a serious danger for human health by entering the food chain and for environmental security by infiltration to the underground waters. (Boisson, 1999). Despite the differences among the heavy metal behavior, in terms of mobility and the ability to the absorption of them in the soil, in most cases the amount of their exit through leaching or absorption by plants is much less than the amount of their entry into the soil. This cause the gradual accumulation of elements in the soil.
Most of the rodents nest for themselves. Most nests are made on the ground and have various forms. The depth, number of entries and complexity of nest varies among different rodents. Nesting and living in deep underground are important in rodent’s life. Between the members of the same species also the nets can be differ. These nets can have several resorts which have different temperature depending on their depth (Khajeh, 2002). The nest can differ from the Hindi gerbil y-shaped simple system to much complex systems like what is seen about Desert Hindi
gerbil. Rodents have useful features too. The digging activities of Underground species have led to the soil aeration and enter the nutrients into the top layer of soil. Some species control the population of insects.
This order in Iran are found in almost all habitats from islands and low plains of Persian Gulf and Oman sea, and central deserts to highlands of Alborz and Zagros and the northern forests. Most of the rodents in Iran have great populations and in some areas they become as pest, but some of the rodents are limited to special areas and some have very less population and are in IUCN1 red list which includes: Kermanian Vole, Iranian Setzer's Mouse-tailed Dormouse, Golden Hamster, Zarudny's Jird and Masked Mouse-tailed Dormouse. The rodents of Iran are very various and different and this variation is so that it can be called a collection of the rodents of Uruapan, African, Asian and the special; rodents of Iran. For example Fat Dormouse is o urupian and libyan Jird, Persian Jird, Iranian Jerboa (Allactaga firouzi) are samples of special rodents of Iran. Rodents are 1.3 or 36 % of Iran’s total mammals. (Ziaie, 1996)
Alturiqi and Albediyar (2012) measured the concentration of heavy metals (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Hg) in the Common types of fish, meat and meat products gathered from four main industrial cities (Tabouk, Riyadh, Dammam, Jazan) in Saudi Arabia. They examined heavy metals using atomic absorption and concluded that the concentration of most of the examined metals exceeded the maximum levels that considered acceptable and proposed by FAO / WHO and the EC Committees. Meat products, especially sausages also contain the highest amounts of heavy metals and camel meat contains the lowest amount of these metals. According to the survey, central and eastern regions due to polluted air of industrial activity revealed the highest concentrations of metals. Pakzad toochaei and colleagues in 2013 measured the concentration of
1
heavy metals Fe, Ni, Pb, Zn, and Cu in loach as Paracobitis rhadinaea in Chahnime's water resources. They obtained the concentration of heavy metals using atomic absorption of heavy metals and then after analyzing the data achieved the results in which the pattern of metal concentration in the liver and muscle tissues are similar and the highest concentrations belong to Zn, Fe. Concentrations of Pb, Cu and Ni also do not show any significant difference between the two tissues. Ni, Fe, Pb showed greater concentrations than the amount set by some standards (FAO, WHO) and can be simulated by environmental factors such as food, water and environment. The significant relationship between Zn concentrations in the liver and muscles, shows similar concentration pattern between both tissues and the changes that have effect on concentration in liver simulate the changes in both muscles. The aim of this study was to investigate the adsorption of heavy metals, lead and cadmium in agricultural lands of Ardabil city using Turkish Hamster Which has been dealt with more in data and field investigation in the rest of present research. Table 1: Profile of species being studied
Series animals
Category Chordate
Row Order Rodentia
Family Family Cricetidat
The family Arvicolinae -Cricetinae
Gender Mesocricetus
Species brandti
English name Brandt's Hamster
Another nickname Turkish hamster
METHODOLOGY
To evaluate the uptake of heavy metals lead and cadmium in Turkish hamster species, this species tried to be cached from early spring of 2014 to late summer 2015 from three stations in the area of agricultural lands of Ardabil Township. 24 hamster samples from three stations (each station 8 samples) were trapped. Various methods were used to catch these species which the most effective of these methods was the use of water. Unlike other digging species nests which have
several holes, the nests of this species has just one hole. After finding the nests of this species and recognition of the activeness of the nests by pouring water in to the nest, if there was the hamster, it would come out to scape suffocation, and because it was heavy and had lost the power of escaping largely due to the connection with water, it would be so easy to be caught.
To investigate the significance of the difference of elements tested in different groups, non-parametric tests like Kruskal-Wallis test and Maan-Whitney U was used. The tests were evaluated at the probability level of 95%.
Figure 1: Map of sample points
RESULTS
Figure 2: Average concentrations of lead and cadmium in the liver and muscle of examined samples
agricultural areas to 0.21 µg / g in pasture areas changes. In the case of cadmium also situation was reported similarly so that the least amount of cadmium in the pasture and far from agricultural
lands was recorded. Kruskal-Wallis (H test) showed that the concentration of lead and cadmium in different regions for liver and muscle, have significant difference (p <0.05).
Table 2: Average measured metals (SD±) in the liver and muscle of the hind foot (µg / g dry weight) indifferent areas and the number of samples (n)
Locality Elevation (m)
n Pb Cd
22 Liver H.F. tissue Liver H.F. tissue Area 1 1251 5 4.25 (±1.80) 3.25 (±0.65) 1.95 (±0.03) 0.75 (±0.45) Area 2 1390 4 0.21 (±1.90) 1.5 (±0.15) 0.73 (±0.25) 0.25 (±0.15) Area 3 1414 13 12.34 (±3.95) 9.40 (±3.10) 9.50 (±2.55) 3.65 (±1.25)
The findings of this investigation predicate and emphasize on the effect of human activities on habitat and wild life populations, the issue which was proved by lots of researches in past. The Heavy metal concentrations in animal tissue depend on age, physiological condition, Haemostatics mechanisms and food intake. The latter, taking food, is one of the main routes of the entrance of heavy metals into the body of the living. So when it comes to talking about a species as an indicator for monitoring the environment, these issues necessarily have to be considered.
Table 3: Average measured metals in soil samples
Pb Cd View
Sample Lab Results Mg/ kg
2.26 0.17 Area 1
1.56 0.14 Area 2
3.22 0.22 Area 3
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5
Ar ea 1 Ar ea 2 Ar ea 3
Pb
Cd
CONCLUSION
For this investigation, hamster samples from different areas were tested. The results show that the most of the lead and cadmium elements can be found in samples which are from agricultural lands and the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides are common in them. The lowest amount of these elements were recorded in barren lands and pasture. The results of current
of these elements. Non-parametric test used to view differences in gender and morphological characteristics such as weight and the concentration of these metals, did not show a significant relationship.
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