Accumulation of heavy metals in ducks exposed to heavy metals-contaminated water

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the bioaccumulation of heavy metals (HM) (Cu, Zn, Hg, Pb and Cd) in 15 tissues (brain, breast muscle, sternum, thigh muscle, femur, blood, heart, lung, gizzard, liver, intestine, spleen, pancreas, bile and kidney) of domestic ducks exposed to HM-contaminated water with levels equal to values specified in the column B of QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT. The experiment was a completely randomized design with two treatments: without exposure to HM (CT) and with exposure to HM (ET). Each treatment was replicated 3 times. Ducks were randomly allocated to the treatments with a stocking density of 10 ducks per cage and reared for 8 weeks. The results showed that concentrations of HM, particularly toxic metals such as Hg, Pb and Cd, in all tissues of duck in the CT were lower than those in the ET. The highest levels of HM in tissues were found in the liver and kidney. In the ET, Pb levels in kidney and bone and Cd levels in liver and kidney exceeded the permissible exposure limit according to the guidance of the Ministry of Health of Vietnam and the European Commission. This study demonstrated that the accumulation of HM in duck tissues could happen even though ducks were exposed to relatively low concentrations of HM in water. Thus, further investigation on the bioaccumulation of HM in farmed ducks as well as wild water-birds should be conducted in the near future.