Accumulation of heavy metals in two crop seeds due to soil contamination as determined by neutron activation analysis techniques

ＡｃｕｍｕｌａｔｉｏｎｏｆｈｅａｖｙｍｅｔａｌｓｉｎｔｗｏｃｒｏｐｓｅｄｓｄｕｅｔｏｓｏｉｌｃｏｎｔａｍｉｎａｔｉｏｎａｓｄｅｔｅｒｍｉｎｅｄｂｙｎｅｕｔｒｏｎａｃｔｉｖａｔｉｏｎａｎａｌｙｓｉｓｔｅｃｈｎｉｑｕｅｓＭ．Ｆ．ＡｂｄｅｌＳａｂｏｕｒＳ...

Accumulation of heavy metals in two crop seeds due to soil contamination as determined by neutron activation analysis techniques

Samples of two crop seeds (corn and sesame) grown on different contaminated soil sources were collected and prepared for neutron activation analysis. Soil contamination sources were organic waste compost applied to soil amendments namely, sewage sludge(Bs) and municipal solid waste (MSW) at 4%, 6% and 8% respectively. The non destructive NAA technique was used to determine some trace elements accumulation in plant seeds. Results revealed that increasing rate of tested organic waste resulted in dramatic increase in tested heavy metals levels in seeds(i.e., Fe, Zn, Co, Cr, Sc and Hg). Sesame seeds showed higher affinity to accumulate trace elements than corn grains in most tested elements. Moreover, MSW addition enhanced the accumulation of tested metals in seeds more than Bs compost.