Human sewage waste waters and sewage sludge have been utilized in areas around Assiut City, Egypt , for irrigation as a source of plant nutrients and soil amendment. The problem of this practice is the presence of considerable concentrations of heavy metals which are considered harmful to plants and / or animals .
The aim of work was to evaluate correlation of some heavy metals in nature and their levels in blood of buffalo calves fed on sewage irrigated pastures.
Samples of water ( 5,10 ) , Soil ( 4,7 ) and dietary green pasture ( 5,9 ) were collected from non- polluted and polluted areas respectively. Blood samples were collected from control ( 12 ) and Exposed ( 25 ) Buffalo Calves 6 – 9 months ages. Human Sewage was the source of pollution at some villages near Assiut. Non – polluted areas were clean and irrigated with water from River Nile.
Lead , cadmium, iron, copper and zinc were determined using atomic absorption spectrophotometer .
Significant elevation ( P < 0.05 ) was reported in mean values of lead 0.05 ± 0.001, 1.37 ± 0.03 and 14.12 ± 2.11 ppm in water , soil and dietary plants respectively at polluted areas. The same trend was observed in cadmium with high significant ( P < 0.01 ) rise to value of 2.15 ± 0.11 ppm in dietary plants .
Slight elevations were reported in mean values of iron ( 310.11 ± 34.04 ppm ) ,copper ( 20.16 ± 2.71 ppm ) and Zinc ( 32.14 ± 2.81 ppm ) at polluted areas.
Significant elevation ( P < 0.05 ) was reported in mean value of lead and cadmium in blood of exposed buffalo calves . Values for lead and cadmium were 0.151 ± 0.112 and 0.480 ± 0.091 ppm respectively . Blood of exposed animals had higher concentration of lead (> 6 folds ) and cadmium (> 9 folds )than the corresponding control values. The biometals Fe, Cu and Zn had lower values in blood of exposed animals and their values were 97.71 ± 6.23 , 69.78 ± 5.45 and 89.21 ± 3.14 ug / dl respectively .