Speciation of Two Heavy Metals in Pastures and Animals: An Assessment of Health Risk

The aim of study was access the cobalt and lead contamination in soil, forages and animals. Heavy metal pollution is a matter of prime significance in natural environment. Through food chain toxicity of heavy metals and their bioaccumulation potential are transferred into humans .Higher concentrations of metallic compounds are toxic to living organisms but these are essential to maintain body metabolism. Intake of food crops polluted with heavy metals is chief food chain channel for human exposure. Animals are exposed to heavy metal stress by the intake of richly contaminated food crops those are chief part of food chain. We collected samples of soil, plant, animal blood, hair and faeces to find contamination through wet digestion process in lab and metal analysis. Different forages were collected to study Zn amount in forages whilst soil and animals in Mianwali Pakistan. The health risk index (HRI) calculation was our major concern in this study. Our present findings also emphasized on the assessment of bio-concentration factor (BCF). We also calculated other significant indices i.e. Pollution load index (PLI), daily intake of metal (DIM), Health Risk Index (HRI) and Enrichment factor (EF). While the experimentation result showed different concentrations of metal in different seasons. When the Zn concentration in forages was (32.59-42.17mg/kg) and in soil (21.82-35.09 mg/kg). Soil samples showed higher level of (PLI) Pollution load index. Bio-concentration of zinc was (1.03-1.57mg/kg). It can be concluded as regular monitoring of the level metal is essential evaluate the contamination status.