Plant Soil Environ., 2025, 71(3):202-212 | DOI: 10.17221/42/2025-PSE

Assessment of cadmium toxicity in buffaloes grazing on forages cultivated in diverse irrigated soils: a comprehensive analysisOriginal Paper

Zafar Iqbal Khan¹, Menal Hamdani¹, Kafeel Ahmad^1,2, Asma Ashfaq¹, Shehnaz Fatima³, Saqib Bashir^3,4, Ijaz Rasool Noorka⁵, Hafsa Memona⁶, Saif Ullah⁷, Shahzad Akhtar¹, Mahmoud F. Seleiman⁸, Nawab Ali⁹

¹ Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan

² Department of Botany, Baba Guru Nanak University, Nankana, Pakistan

³ Department of Soil and Environmental Sciences, Ghazi University, Dera Ghazi Khan, Pakistan

⁴ State Key Laboratory of Soil and Sustainable Agriculture, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, P.R. China

⁵ Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan

⁶ Department of Zoology, Queen Mary College, Lahore, Pakistan

⁷ Department of Economics, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan

⁸ Department of Plant Production, College of Food and Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

⁹ Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

This study investigated the potential risks of cadmium (Cd) toxicity in buffaloes grazing on forages that were cultivated in soils irrigated by various sources of wastewater. The absorption of trace metals (TM) by plants and their subsequent entry into the food chain pose a significant danger to grazing animals through the accumulation of contaminated fodder. The mean concentration of Cd in the water ranged from 0.18–1.78 mg/L, in the soil 0.63 to 1.87 mg/kg, in the forage 0.20 to 1.32 mg/kg, and in the blood 0.26 to 1.98 mg/L. Among all three sites, canal water (CW Site I), groundwater (GW Site II), and sewage water (SW Site III), the concentration factor (CF) values were below the threshold of 1 (CF < 1), indicating the nominal environmental concern regarding Cd contents in the soil-plant interface. In addition, a prominent variation was noticed in the transfer factor (TF) of Cd across different sites, with the highest TF observed in Avena sativa L. at SW Site III (0.8) and the lowest in Pennisetum glaucum L. at CW Site I (0.27). Furthermore, the hazard quotient (HQ) exhibited a substantial fluctuation, ranging from 0.39 to 2.6, reflecting varying levels of potential health risks associated with Cd exposure. The outcomes of the current investigation suggested that the prominent increase in Cd levels was recorded at sampling site SW Site III due to continuous wastewater irrigation. Prolonged exposure and increased Cd absorption in buffaloes grazing at these sites could have harmful long-term effects on their health. The correlation analysis between Cd concentrations in water, soil, forage, and blood showed a positive but non-significant relationship for water-soil, soil-forage, and forage-blood interactions. This highlights the need for further research to assess the long-term implications of wastewater irrigation on heavy metal accumulation in livestock.

Keywords: livestock farming; pollution; nutrition; animal fodder; bioaccumulation

Received: January 30, 2025; Revised: March 13, 2025; Accepted: March 14, 2025; Prepublished online: March 20, 2025; Published: March 31, 2025  Show citation