Analysis of eight metal elements contents in rat hole soil in Yunnan plague natural foci

Abstract

Objective To compare and analyze the soil eight metal elements contents of rat holes of three plague foci in Yunnan Province. Methods The soils were collected from the rat holes in Yulong, Jianchuan, and Lianghe plague foci. Calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), cadmium (Cd), and copper (Cu) were quantified with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). Data input, calculation and collation were conducted through Excel 2007, and statistical software SPSS 20.0 was used to carried out statistical analysis through rank sum test. Results The medians of Ca content in the rat hole soil of Yulong County, Jianchuan County, and Lianghe County, respectively, were 85.40, 308.56, and 0.00 mg/kg; the medians of Fe were 2 569.07, 1 950.16, and 975.72 mg/kg; the medians of Zn were 5.64, 4.02, and 2.04 mg/kg; the medians of Cr were 1.09, 3.06, and 0.71 mg/kg; the medians of Pb were 3.61, 29.56, and 22.80 mg/kg; the medians of Mn were 223.01, 212.97, and 80.43 mg/kg; the medians of Cd were 0.00, 2.02, and 2.94 mg/kg; and the medians of Cu were 1.92, 1.08, and 0.51 mg/kg. The contents of eight metal elements were statistically different in the soil samples between Yulong, Jianchuan, and Lianghe plague foci (H= 80.538, 127.687, 202.583, 185.359, 124.747, 150.057, 91.346, 228.546, P < 0.05). Conclusions The content of Fe in soil of the three plague foci in Yunnan Province is abundant. The contents of metal elements of Yulong County and Jianchuan County are similar. Key words: Metals; Soil; Plague natural foci; Iron