Determination of total mercury in chicken feed, its translocation to different tissues of chicken and their manure using cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometer

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2010.03.023

Food and Chemical Toxicology

Volume 48, Issue 6, June 2010, Pages 1550-1554

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2010.03.023 Get rights and content

Abstract

In this study, the contents of total mercury (Hg) present in poultry feed, tissues of broiler chicken and manure were assessed. For this purpose, chicken feeds (five brands), different tissues of broiler chicken of two age groups (1–3 and 4–6 week) and manure samples were collected from five commercial poultry farms of Hyderabad, Pakistan. The Hg concentrations in feeds, chicken tissues (leg, muscle, liver and heart) and manure samples were determined by CVAAS, prior to microwave assisted acid digestion in closed vessels. For validation, a certified reference material, DORM-2 was used. The limit of detection and quantitation were 0.117 and 0.382 μg/kg, respectively The Hg concentration in different chicken feed were found in the range of 8.57–16.5 μg/kg. The concentration of Hg in chicken tissues were found in the range of 2.54–5.54 μg/kg (liver), 1.27–3.86 μg/kg (muscles) and 2.13–3.27 μg/kg (heart). The bioaccumulation factors (BAF) for Hg in different tissues were found in the range of 0.092–0.269. The obtained data shows the high correlation coefficient between feed and manure, while low r-values were obtained between Hg levels in feed and tissues of broiler chicken of two age groups.

Introduction

Heavy metals have recently come to the forefront dangerous substances and are considered as serious chemical health hazards for humans and animals (Lars, 2003, Ghaedi et al., 2006a, Ghaedi et al., 2008). Mercury (Hg) has long been known as toxic environmental pollutant, the increased use of Hg in industrial processes as a fungicide may results Hg poisoning in humans (Sharif et al., 2005, Tuzen et al., 2009a). Natural Hg arises from the degassing of the earth’s crust through volcanoes and probably by evaporation from the oceans. Smelting of lead, copper and zinc ores incidentally emits Hg to the atmosphere in annual quantities estimated at 100 ton globally (Dean, 2000, Tuzen et al., 2009b). The main source of environmental Hg contamination is the burning of coal and petroleum products. According to literature, in the neighbor hood of a coal-burning power station the dust fall may contain about 400 g Hg/ha/year (Tadeusz et al., 2003). An important source of Hg in the agricultural ecosystems was the mercury seed dressings. Its production was discontinued in Poland in 1978 while the Czech Republic was still used up to the beginning of the nineties. Mercury is a constant component of municipal sewage, the use of which as soil fertilization creates a serious danger of introducing this heavy metal into food products and feeds for farm animals (Shah et al., 2009a). The exposure of different sources onto various anthropogenic pollutants, especially the heavy metals may affect our food chain through the feeds (Shahidul Islam et al., 2007).

The ability of Hg to accumulate in biological tissues might influence the entire food chain. Mercury can be absorbed rapidly by the human body, damaging mainly the central nervous system. (Collasiol et al., 2004). For farm animals, European Commission Directive 2005/8/EC permitted the maximum content of Hg 0.1 mg/kg of complete feedstuffs (Zelenka and Hedbavny, 2007). The raw materials for the production of poultry feed are of various origin. Nowadays, small fish are used as a source of protein in feed of poultry. Fish fed meals could concentrate Hg to undesirable levels if fish were collected from contaminated areas. Even low level of Hg in poultry feed made of fish can cause Hg accumulation in their flesh exceeding up to 0.03 mg/kg (Lindberg et al., 2004). Research has demonstrated that absorption of nutrients from poultry feeds via the digestive tract of chicken is relatively low, and a large portion of trace and toxic elements including Hg may pass into their manures (Kpomblekou et al., 2002). Experimental studies with chickens fed fish meal revealed relatively high Hg concentrations in their different tissues. However, some tissues accumulated more Hg than others (Lewis et al., 1993).

Nowadays, the most widespread method for Hg determination is cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) (Ghaedi et al., 2006b). The CVAAS was adopted as a standard method for analysis of Hg in foodstuffs. This technique is based on the chemical reduction of Hg, usually by Sn²⁺ or BH⁴⁻ ions to elemental Hg which is swept from the solution by a carrier gas to a quartz cell placed in the optical path of an atomic absorption spectrophotometer where the absorption of Hg is measured (Silva et al., 2006, Tuzen et al., 2009c).

The objective of this research was to determine the translocation of Hg from different chicken feeds to different tissues of broiler chicken of two age groups (1–3 and 4–6 weeks), and in excretory product, manure. The understudied samples (chicken feed, different tissues of chicken and manure) were collected from five poultry farms located in the vicinity of Hyderabad. All samples (chicken feed, tissues and manure) were analyzed for total Hg by CVAAS.

Section snippets

Instrumentation

Samples of chicken feed, different tissues of broiler chicken and their manure were freeze-dried in Bench top Freeze Zone, freeze-drying system (Make, Labconco, USA). Agate ball mixer mill MM-2000 (Haan, Germany), was used for grinding the dried samples to reduce particle size using sieve made of nylon with mesh size of <125 μm. The acid digestions of all three samples were performed with a Milestone microwave oven (Bergamo, Italy). The digested samples were analysed for Hg contents using a model

Results and discussion

The validity and accuracy of the methodology was checked with certified reference material, DORM-2 which had certified value 4.64 ± 0.260 μg/kg of Hg and the experiment values at 95% confidence interval (n = 6) was 4.61 ± 0.211 μg/kg obtained as shown in Table 1. The linear range of the calibration curve reached from the detection limit up to 25 μg/l for Hg The linear regression equation and the coefficients of correlation for Hg, under the selected analytical conditions measurements, were y = 1.8∗10⁻³ ×

Conclusion

The accumulation of Hg in different tissues of broiler chicken may due to feed prepared from low grade grains and small sea fishes. Mercury concentrations in broiler chicken tissue correlated to Hg levels in their feeds. In addition, the age was also affected Hg accumulation in tissues of chicken. The observed correlation of Hg concentration among feed and tissues, provides perspective and a useful means for relating among the variety of measures of its exposure and bioavailability. The high

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Determination of total mercury in chicken feed, its translocation to different tissues of chicken and their manure using cold vapour atomic absorption spectrometer

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Instrumentation

Results and discussion

Conclusion

Conflict of interest

Anal. Chim. Acta

Review. J. Food Protect.

J. Hazard. Mater.

Ecotox. Environ. Safe.

Environ. Pollut.

Environ. Res.

Mexico. Chemosphere

Food Chem.

J. Hazard. Mater.

J. Hazard. Mater.

Food. Chem. Toxicol.

Methylmercury and inorganic mercury in Swedish pregnant women and in cord blood: influence of fish consumption

Environ. Med.

Ecological effects, transport, and fate of mercury: a general review

Chemosphere