Assessment of heavy metals and metalloids toxicity in buffaloes fed on forages irrigated with domestic wastewater in bhalwal,sargodha,pakistan

The main purpose of the present investigation was to examine if heavy metal and metalloid toxicity had occurred in grazing livestock fed with forages irrigated with sewage water. in particular the transfer of arsenic (as),selenium (se) and molybdenum (mo) from soil to plant and in turn to animal (buffaloes) was conducted in bhalwal,sargodha,pakistan which falls under sub-tropical environmental conditions. arsenic and se concentrations were significantly lower in the soil but higher in the forages; however,mo concentration in both soil and forages was higher. the correlation between soil,forage,hair and feces showed an imbalanced flow of as and mo and a balanced flow of se from soil to,forage and then to buffaloes. based on the findings of the present study,the highest rates of transfer of metals were found in case of sewage water treatment and lowest rates were found in canal water treatment. as the transfer of metals depends on the bioavailability of metals,so the highest values may be due to the high rates of metals uptake by the plants. the lowest values of transfer showed that the plants may be resistant to these three metals or it may be due to the antagonistic effect of other metals present in the sewage water or soil. the high transfer rates show the plants are prone to become toxicant with time in future,which may cause hazardous effects to livestock rearing therein. © 2013 zoological society of pakistan.