DETECTION OF ARSENIC IN ANIMAL FEED CHAIN: BROKEN RICE AND WATER HYACINTH

Abstract

Currently arsenic contamination in Bangladesh is considered to be the biggest natural calamity in the world in the terms of total population affected in an area. Arsenic is spreading in various ways in the environment and significantly threatening the public health as well as animal health of Bangladesh. With a view to detect the level of arsenic concentration in animal feed chain this study was performed by using the FI-HG-AAS (Flow Injection Hydride Generator Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer) method. Broken rice and water hyacinth samples, two commonly used animal feeds, were collected from arsenic contaminated areas of Comilla district. After collection, the samples were prepared by a series of steps such as, washing, drying and digestion; finally arsenic was detected by atomic absorption spectrophotometric method. Atomic absorption measures the amount of energy absorbed by the samples. Through this method the type of metal absorbed by the sample can be determined. The mean arsenic concentration in broken rice and water hyacinth were 0.213±0.125 ppm (n=35) and 0.487±0.172 ppm (n=29), respectively. In this study it is found that the level of arsenic both in broken rice and water hyacinth is greater than that of the maximum permissible level in drinking water (0.05 ppm). From the findings of the present study, it can be concluded that in the same arsenic contaminated area, the level of arsenic in water hyacinth is nearly the double of that found in rice due to arsenic accumulating nature of water hyacinth.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjvm.v10i1-2.15656