Abstract
The consumption of cereals in Slovakia but also worldwide is increasing by every year. From 30000 to 50000 tons of mercury circulates throught the biosphere that gets into the atmosphere degassing of the earth's crust and world oceans. Mercury affects CNS and causes its disorders. The high doses of mercury causes a lot of different changes of personality as well as increased agitation, memory lossorinsomnia. It can also affect other organ systems such as the kidney. The exposure level is reflected in the concentration of mercury in blood and urine. The aim of our work was the evaluation of transfer of mercury from sludge to edible part of chosen cereals. The objectives were achieved in simulated conditions of growing pot experiment. We used agricultural soil from the location of Výčapy - Opatovce for the realization of the experiment. The sludge, which was added atvarious doses, was taken from Central Spiš area from locality of Rudňany near the village where minedironore that contains mainly copperand mercury during last few decades was. We used three types of cereals: barley (Hordeum sativum L.) variety PRESTIGE, spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) variety ISJARISSA and oat (Avena sativa L.) variety TATRAN. The length of growing season was 90 days. From the obtained results of two years can be concluded that the accumulation of mercury by seed follows wheat ˂ barley ˂ oat. Even though that the oat is characterized by the highest accumulation of mercuryin the seeds, the content did not exceed the maximum level sspecified by The Codex Alimentarius of Slovak Republic. The results shows that the suitable cultivation of the cereals in localities, which are contaminated with heavy metals, especially by mercury, that the high content of mercury in soil do not pose a risk of accumulation of the metal into the cereal grain.
Highlights
The cereals are probably the most important source of food for humans and feed foranimals
Soil from the locality of Výčapy – Opatovce has analcalic soil reaction with medium level of humidity. It is characterized by good content of phosphorus and potassium and a high content of magnesium.The contents of heavy metals do not exceed the limit values (Act No 220/2004 Coll.)
Mercury content in wheat seeds in all variants was not exceeded the maximum permissible amount specified by Codex Alimentarius of SR (CA SR)
Summary
The cereals are probably the most important source of food for humans and feed foranimals. Cereals provide most of the calories and proteins consumed worldwide. The current annual world production is more than 2.5 billion tons This out put is either directly channeled to the food industry or used as animal feed to provide meats, dairy, and poultry products. The otherless important cereals are barley, oats, sorghum, rye, triticale, and millets. All cereals are strachy foods and contain protein that does not meet the essential aminoacid balance required by growing infants. They are considered a good source of energy, most B vitamins, and dietary fiber when consumed as whole grains (Serna Saldivar, 2016)
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