Nutritional and toxicological evaluation of wheat grown on soils with or without fly ash treatment

Abstract

AbstractBACKGROUND: Fly ash disposal has recently posed a huge environmental problem due to storage, apart from apprehension about possible contamination of soil, crop produce and ground water with toxic trace and heavy metal and radio nuclides. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate nutritional and toxicological aspects of wheat grown on soils treated with fly ash. Wheat was grown on soils with fly ash (200 t ha−1) and without fly ash at two different geographical locations in India. One kilogram each of 36 samples randomly collected from three replicates of wheat grown with and without fly ash were subjected to various analytical techniques to determine the nutrient composition, mineral, trace element and heavy metal content. Furthermore, wheat grown on soils treated with fly ash was also incorporated into the diet at 90% level, fed as a feed for 26 weeks to Wistar/NIN rats for protein and toxicological evaluation.RESULTS: Moisture, protein and ash content of wheat samples showed no difference between fly ash treated and controls. Similar observations were also seen with trace and heavy elements.CONCLUSION: Results indicated there is no difference between wheat samples grown in soils with fly ash and without fly ash. Studies also clearly indicated that there are no adverse effects on haematological, biochemical or histopathological parameters when wheat was fed to rats for 6 months. This indicates that wheat grown on fly ash treated soils may be safe for human consumption. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry