IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7873-d594186.html

Blood, Hair and Feces as an Indicator of Environmental Exposure of Sheep, Cow and Buffalo to Cobalt: A Health Risk Perspectives

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Iftikhar Hussain

    (Department of Plant Biology & Soil Science, Campus Lagoas Marcosende, Universidade de Vigo, 36310 Vigo, Spain
    CITACA, Agri-Food Research and Transfer Cluster, Campus da Auga, Universidade de Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain)

  • Zafar Iqbal Khan

    (Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan)

  • Majida Naeem

    (Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan)

  • Kafeel Ahmad

    (Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha 40100, Pakistan)

  • Muhammad Umer Farooq Awan

    (Department of Botany, Government College University, Lahore 54000, Pakistan)

  • Mona S. Alwahibi

    (Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia)

  • Mohamed Soliman Elshikh

    (Department of Botany and Microbiology, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia)

Abstract

Exposure to toxic metals (TMs) such as cobalt (Co) can cause lifelong carcinogenic disorders and mutagenic outcomes. TMs enter ground water and rivers from human activity, anthropogenic contamination, and the ecological environment. The present study was conducted to evaluate the influence of sewage water irrigation on cobalt (Co) toxicity and bioaccumulation in a soil-plant environment and to assess the health risk of grazing livestock via forage consumption. Cobalt is a very necessary element for the growth of plants and animals; however, higher concentrations have toxic impacts. Measurement of Co in plant, soil and water samples was conducted via wet digestion method using an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The Co pollution severity was examined in soil, forage crops ( Sorghum bicolor Kuntze, Sesbania bispinosa (Jacq.) W. Wight, Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers., Suaeda fruticosa (L.) Forssk. and Tribulus terrestris L.) in blood, hair and feces of sheep, cow and buffalo from district Toba-Tek-Singh, Punjab, Pakistan. Three sites were selected for investigation of Co level in soil and forage samples. Highest concentration of Co was 0.65 and 0.35 mg/kg occurring in S. bicolor at site I. The sheep blood, cow hair and sheep feces samples showed highest concentrations of 0.545, 0.549 and 0.548 mg/kg, respectively at site I and site II. Bioconcentration factor, pollution load index, enrichment factor and daily intake were found to be higher (0.667, 0.124, 0.12 and 0.0007 mg/kg) in soil, S. bicolor , S. fruticosa and in buffalo, respectively, at site I. It was concluded that forage species irrigated with wastewater are safe for consumption of livestock. However, though the general values were lower than the permissible maximum limit, it was observed that the bioaccumulation in the forage species was higher. Therefore, soil and food chain components should be avoided from trace metal contamination, and other means of nonconventional water resources should be employed for forages irrigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Iftikhar Hussain & Zafar Iqbal Khan & Majida Naeem & Kafeel Ahmad & Muhammad Umer Farooq Awan & Mona S. Alwahibi & Mohamed Soliman Elshikh, 2021. "Blood, Hair and Feces as an Indicator of Environmental Exposure of Sheep, Cow and Buffalo to Cobalt: A Health Risk Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-15, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7873-:d:594186
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7873/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7873/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huang, Ze & Dunkerley, David & López‐Vicente, Manuel & Wu, Gao-Lin, 2020. "Trade-offs of dryland forage production and soil water consumption in a semi-arid area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    2. Hussain, M. Iftikhar & Muscolo, Adele & Farooq, Muhammad & Ahmad, Waqar, 2019. "Sustainable use and management of non-conventional water resources for rehabilitation of marginal lands in arid and semiarid environments," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 462-476.
    3. Enrico Vito Perrino & Robert Philipp Wagensommer, 2021. "Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) Priority in Italy: Distribution, Ecology, In Situ and Ex Situ Conservation and Expected Actions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Diego Francisco Cushquicullma-Colcha & María Verónica González-Cabrera & Cristian Santiago Tapia-Ramírez & Marcela Yolanda Brito-Mancero & Edmundo Danilo Guilcapi-Pacheco & Guicela Margoth Ati-Cutiupa, 2025. "Bioaccumulation and Tolerance of Metals in Floristic Species of the High Andean Wetlands of the Ichubamba Yasepan Protected Area: Identification of Groups and Discriminant Markers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-20, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. J. M. Aishwarya & R. Vidhya, 2023. "Study on the Efficiency of a Hydroponic Treatment for Removing Organic Loading from Wastewater and Its Application as a Nutrient for the “ Amaranthus campestris ” Plant for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-13, May.
    2. Theodora-Nafsika Panagiotidou & Ioannis Anestis & Elias Pipinis & Stefanos Kostas & Georgios Tsoktouridis & Stefanos Hatzilazarou & Nikos Krigas, 2025. "GIS Bioclimatic Profile and Seed Germination of the Endangered and Protected Cretan Endemic Plant Campanula cretica (A. DC.) D. Dietr. for Conservation and Sustainable Utilization," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-16, May.
    3. Regmi, Rupesh & Zhang, Zhuo & Zhang, Hongpeng, 2023. "Entrepreneurship strategy, natural resources management and sustainable performance: A study of an emerging market," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(PB).
    4. Chen, Dali & Bao, Jinglong & Chen, Tao & Bai, Mengjie & Pan, Jia & Yuan, Haiying & Wang, Yanrong & Nan, Zhibiao & Hu, Xiaowen, 2024. "Effect of drip irrigation and boron application on enhancing seed production of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) in Northwest China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    5. Ghalia Saleem Aljeddani, 2022. "Reusing Sewage Effluent in Greening Urban Areas: A Case Study of: Southern Jeddah, Saudi Arabia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Xu, Qiang & Xu, Yibin & Xia, Hanji & Zhang, Qian & Li, Pengfei & Liu, Hongguang & Li, Mingsi & Gong, Ping, 2025. "Optimizing brackish water irrigation strategies: Promoting the ecological and economic benefits of salt wasteland utilization," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 317(C).
    7. Jia, Zhenjiang & Wu, Yangyang & Li, Wangcheng & Jia, Zixuan & Huang, Yahao & Xu, Haowen & Zhao, Guangxing & Yao, Xiaocui, 2025. "Trade-offs of saline irrigation on crop productivity across China: A meta-analysis," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 318(C).
    8. Štefan Bojnec & Umar Daraz & Younas Khan, 2024. "Harvesting Sunlight: The Promise of Agro-Photovoltaic Fusion Systems for Sustainable Agriculture and Renewable Energy Generation," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-29, July.
    9. Zhenjie Du & Shuang Zhao & Yingjun She & Yan Zhang & Jingjing Yuan & Shafeeq Ur Rahman & Xuebin Qi & Yue Xu & Ping Li, 2022. "Effects of Different Wastewater Irrigation on Soil Properties and Vegetable Productivity in the North China Plain," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-13, July.
    10. Hugo Henrique de Simone Souza & Carlo Gottardo Morandi & Marc Árpád Boncz & Paula Loureiro Paulo & Heidrun Steinmetz, 2025. "Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment of Greywater Treatment and Rainwater Harvesting for Decentralized Water Reuse in Brazil and Germany," Resources, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    11. Li, Zehua & Wu, Yanfeng & Zhang, Guangxin & Xu, Yi J. & Ni, Bingbo & Hu, Boting & Sun, Jingxuan & Zhang, Qingsong & Yu, Yexiang, 2025. "China's Black Soil Granary is approaching the climax phase of agricultural water security risk," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 319(C).
    12. Muhammad Iftikhar Hussain & Majida Naeem & Zafar Iqbal Khan & Shahzad Akhtar & Muhammad Nadeem & Maha Abdallah Alnuwaiser & Kafeel Ahmad & Oscar Vicente & Hsi-Hsien Yang, 2022. "Cadmium (Cd) and Copper (Cu) Exposure and Bioaccumulation Arrays in Farm Ruminants: Impact of Forage Ecotypes, Ecological Sites and Body Organs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-14, October.
    13. Shi, Jingxin & Huang, Wenping & Han, Hongjun & Xu, Chunyan, 2021. "Pollution control of wastewater from the coal chemical industry in China: Environmental management policy and technical standards," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    14. Yiding Wang & Yaning Chen & Weili Duan & Li Jiao, 2022. "Evaluation of Sustainable Water Resource Use in the Tarim River Basin Based on Water Footprint," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-18, August.
    15. Sun, Libo & Chang, Xiaomin & Yu, Xinxiao & Jia, Guodong & Chen, Lihua & Wang, Yusong & Liu, Ziqiang, 2021. "Effect of freeze-thaw processes on soil water transport of farmland in a semi-arid area," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 252(C).
    16. Efthymios Rodias & Eirini Aivazidou & Charisios Achillas & Dimitrios Aidonis & Dionysis Bochtis, 2020. "Water-Energy-Nutrients Synergies in the Agrifood Sector: A Circular Economy Framework," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-17, December.
    17. Michalia Sakellariou & Basil E. Psiloglou & Christos Giannakopoulos & Photini V. Mylona, 2021. "Integration of Abandoned Lands in Sustainable Agriculture: The Case of Terraced Landscape Re-Cultivation in Mediterranean Island Conditions," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-16, April.
    18. J. C. Morris & I. Georgiou & E. Guenther & S. Caucci, 2021. "Barriers in Implementation of Wastewater Reuse: Identifying the Way Forward in Closing the Loop," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(1), pages 413-433, June.
    19. Muhammad Iftikhar Hussain & Zafar Iqbal Khan & Pervaiz Akhter & Fahad M. Al-Hemaid & Abdulrahman Al-Hashimi & Mohamed Soliman Elshikh & Kafeel Ahmad & Hsi-Hsien Yang, 2022. "Potential of Organic Amendments for Heavy Metal Contamination in Soil–Coriander System: Environmental Fate and Associated Ecological Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-17, September.
    20. Soumitra Saha & Namita Chakma & Koyel Sam, 2025. "Responses of rural livelihood with limited access to water resources: a case from water-scarce region of West Bengal, India," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 3005-3031, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7873-:d:594186. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask MDPI Indexing Manager to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.