Abstract
Wheat plays a major role in feeding the global population. Therefore, given its potential impact on human health, it is very important to determine toxic metal accumulation in the various varieties of wheat. This study was carried out to investigate potentially toxic metal accumulation in the wheat variety Galaxy-2013 following various industrial wastewater irrigation treatments, and to examine various indices such as the bioconcentration factor, enrichment factor, and health risk index in order to better understand how metals are transported and accumulate throughout the food chain. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry was used to evaluate the concentrations of iron (Fe), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd), and cobalt (Co) in the wheat. A multipurpose pot experiment was conducted to determine metal accumulation in wheat samples irrigated with industrial wastewater in the Botanical Garden of the Botany Department at the University of Sargodha. The concentrations of the potentially toxic metals Co, Cd, Cr, Cu, and Fe in the harvested wheat samples ranged from 0.720 to 1.075, from 0.316 to 0.526, from 0.111 to 0.950, from 0.603 to 0.665, and from 1.617 to 1.884 mg/kg, respectively. These concentrations were higher than the safe levels specified by WHO, FAO, and US EPA, except for Cd. However, the health risk index for Cd was found to be above the permissible limit. Pearson correlation coefficients indicated that there were correlations between the potentially toxic metal contents in the soil and those in the plants: a significant positive correlation was observed for Cd, while the correlations for Cr, Cu, and Fe were positive and nonsignificant.