Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The effect of heavy metals on the nutritional value of Alfalfa: comparison of nutrients and heavy metals of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in industrial and non-industrial areas

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Toxicological Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare the nutritional value of Alfalfa and accumulation of heavy metals in the farms near and far from the industrial regions. Three regions were considered located at 2, 32 and 65 km distances from an industrial region, and the nutrient content of the Alfalfa including crude protein, crude fiber, crude fat, nitrogen-free extract, and Ash as well as soil and plant heavy metals was determined. The results showed no significant difference in the value of nutrients in the three regions except nitrogen-free extract (mainly starch and sugars). A positive correlation was observed between nitrogen-free extract and lead, chromium, and arsenic (p ≤ 0.05). In addition, the highest accumulations of heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium, lead and cadmium were found in soil and Alfalfa produced at 2 km distance from the industrial area. The lead and cadmium concentrations were higher than the maximum allowable agricultural soil concentration in the areas near industrial region; the accumulation of these metals in the Alfalfa was however lower than the cattle and plant risk levels. The distribution of heavy metals in the Alfalfa cultivated in these three areas (zinc > copper > lead > chromium > arsenic > cadmium) did not coincide with the average of these metals in the soils (lead > zinc > chromium > copper > cadmium > arsenic). The positive correlation was also recorded between electrical conductivity of agricultural soils and copper, lead, chromium and arsenic content of Alfalfa. The highest translocation factors of arsenic, chromium and lead elements were detected in industrial areas. For copper and zinc, the highest translocation factor was found in non- industrial areas. The results of this study can be applied as an important control program in different areas.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

DM:

Dry matter

CP:

Crude protein

CF:

Crude fiber

EE:

Ether extract or crude fat

NFE:

Nitrogen-free extract

EC:

Electrical conductivity

TOM:

Total organic matter

Zn:

Zinc

Cu:

Copper

Pb:

Lead

As:

Arsenic

Cd:

Cadmium

Cr:

Chromium

References

  1. Hani A, Pazira E (2011) Heavy metals assessment and identification of their sources in agricultural soils of Southern Tehran, Iran. Environ Monit Assess 176:677–691

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Shah FUR, Ahmad N, Masood KR, Peralta-Videa JR (2010) Heavy metal toxicity in plants, plant adaptation and phytoremediation. Springer, Berlin, pp 71–97

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. Kabata-Pendias A (2010) Trace elements in soils and plants. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Khan K, Lu Y, Khan H, Ishtiaq M, Khan S, Waqas M, Wei L, Wang T (2013) Heavy metals in agricultural soils and crops and their health risks in Swat District, northern Pakistan. Food Chem Toxicol 58:449–458

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Nriagu JO (1988) A silent epidemic of environmental metal poisoning? Environ Pollut 50:139–161

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Nagajyoti PC, Lee KD, Sreekanth T (2010) Heavy metals, occurrence and toxicity for plants: a review. Environ Chem Lett 8:199–216

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Alaoui-Sossé B, Genet P, Vinit-Dunand F, Toussaint M-L, Epron D, Badot P-M (2004) Effect of copper on growth in cucumber plants (Cucumis sativus) and its relationships with carbohydrate accumulation and changes in ion contents. Plant Sci 166:1213–1218

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Azmat R, Khan N (2011) Nitrogen metabolism as a bioindicator of Cu stress in Vigna radiata. Pak J Bot 43:515–520

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Maksymiec W, Baszyński T (1998) The role of Ca ions in changes induced by excess Cu2+ in bean plants. Growth parameters. Acta Physiol Plant 20:411–417

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Anjum SA, Tanveer M, Hussain S, Ashraf U, Khan I, Wang L (2017) Alteration in growth, leaf gas exchange, and photosynthetic pigments of maize plants under combined cadmium and arsenic stress. Water Air Soil Pollut 228:13

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Sharma P, Dubey RS (2005) Modulation of nitrate reductase activity in rice seedlings under aluminium toxicity and water stress: role of osmolytes as enzyme protectant. J Plant Physiol 162:854–864

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Peralta-Videa J, De la Rosa G, Gonzalez J, Gardea-Torresdey J (2004) Effects of the growth stage on the heavy metal tolerance of alfalfa plants. Adv Environ Res 8:679–685

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Salt DE, Blaylock M, Kumar NP, Dushenkov V, Ensley BD, Chet I, Raskin I (1995) Phytoremediation: a novel strategy for the removal of toxic metals from the environment using plants. Nat Biotechnol 13:468

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Anonymous (2016) Agricultural Jihad statistics

  15. Chen Y, Li G, Zhang X, Lu X, Zhang L (2005) Effect of petroleum biodegradation and rhizosphere micro eco-system in phytoremediation of the polluted soil in oilfield. J Sci Technol 45:784

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Elfanssi S, Ouazzani N, Mandi L (2018) Soil properties and agro-physiological responses of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) irrigated by treated domestic wastewater. Agric Water Manag 202:231–240

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Liu W-H, Zhao J-Z, Ouyang Z-Y, Söderlund L, Liu G-H (2005) Impacts of sewage irrigation on heavy metal distribution and contamination in Beijing, China. Environ Int 31:805–812

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Abid M, Mansour E, Yahia LB, Bachar K, Ben Khaled A, Ferchichi A (2016) Alfalfa nutritive quality as influenced by drought in South-Eastern Oasis of Tunisia. Ital J Anim Sci 15:334–342

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Al-Rashdi TT, Sulaiman H (2013) Bioconcentration of heavy metals in Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) from farm soils around Sohar industrial area in Oman. APCBEE Proc 5:271–278

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Darwish MAG, Pöllmann H (2015) Trace elements assessment in agricultural and desert soils of Aswan area, south Egypt: geochemical characteristics and environmental impacts. J Afr Earth Sci 112:358–373

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Sposito G (1989) The chemistry of soils. Oxford University, New York

    Google Scholar 

  22. AOAC (2005) Official methods of analysis of AOAC International. AOAC International, Gaithersburg

    Google Scholar 

  23. National Research Council (2005) United States–Canadian tables of feed composition: nutritional data for United States and Canadian feeds. National Academies, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  24. Bremner J (1965) Total Nitrogen 1. In: Methods of soil analysis. Part 2. Chemical and microbiological properties, (methodsofsoilanb), pp 1149–1178

  25. Black CA, Evans DD, Dinauer R (1965) Methods of soil analysis. American Society of Agronomy, Madison

    Book  Google Scholar 

  26. Schulte E, Hopkins B (1996) Estimation of soil organic matter by weight loss-on-ignition. In: Soil organic matter: analysis and interpretation, (soilorganicmatt), pp 21–31

  27. Grytsyuk N, Arapis G, Perepelyatnikova L, Ivanova T, Vynograds’ ka V (2006) Heavy metals effects on forage crops yields and estimation of elements accumulation in plants as affected by soil. Sci Total Environ 354:224–231

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. National Research Council (1982) United States–Canadian tables of feed composition: nutritional data for United States and Canadian feeds. National Academies, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  29. Ensminger ME, Oldfield JE, Heinemann WW (1990) Feeds and nutrition digest: formerly, Feeds and nutrition–abridged

  30. Cuypers A, Smeets K, Vangronsveld J (2009) Plant stress biology. from genomics to systems biology, pp 161–178

  31. Gubrelay U, Agnihotri RK, Singh G, Kaur R, Sharma R (2013) Effect of heavy metal Cd on some physiological and biochemical parameters of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Int J Agric Crop Sci 5:2743

    Google Scholar 

  32. Ashraf M, Harris P (2004) Potential biochemical indicators of salinity tolerance in plants. Plant Sci 166:3–16

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Shinde B, Thakur J (2015) Influence of Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on chlorophyll, proteins, proline and total carbohydrates content of the pea plant under water stress condition. Int J Curr Microbiol Appl Sci 4:809–821

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  34. Ross SM (1994) Toxic metals in soil–plant systems. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  35. National Research Council (2006) Mineral tolerance of animals: 2005. National Academies Press, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  36. European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (2004) Opinion on the scientific panel on contaminants in the food chain on a request from the commission related to cadmium as undesirable substance in animal feed. EFSA J 72:1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Underwood EJ (1999) The mineral nutrition of livestock. Cabi, Wallingford

    Book  Google Scholar 

  38. Pais I, Jones JB Jr (1997) The handbook of trace elements. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  39. Panda S, Choudhury S (2005) Chromium stress in plants. Braz J Plant Physiol 17:95–102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  40. WHO/FAO (2007) Joint FAO/WHO Food Standard Programme Codex Alimentarius Commission 13th Session. Report of the Thirty Eight Session of the Codex Committee on Food Hygiene. Houston, United States of America, ALINORM07/30/13, 2007

  41. Rosas I, Belmont R, Armienta A, Baez A (1999) Arsenic concentrations in water, soil, milk and forage in Comarca Lagunera, Mexico. Water Air Soil Pollut 112:133–149

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Nicholson F, Chambers B, Williams J, Unwin R (1999) Heavy metal contents of livestock feeds and animal manures in England and Wales. Bioresour Technol 70:23–31

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  43. Smith RM (1986) Effects of long-term, low-level oral cadmium on performance, blood parameters, and tissue and milk mineral concentrations of dairy cattle through first gestation and subsequent lactation. Pennsylvania State University

  44. Lavado RS (2006) Concentration of potentially toxic elements in field crops grown near and far from cities of the Pampas (Argentina). J Environ Manag 80:116–119

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  45. Corami A, Mignardi S, Ferrini V (2008) Cadmium removal from single-and multi-metal (Cd+ Pb+ Zn+ Cu) solutions by sorption on hydroxyapatite. J Colloid Interface Sci 317:402–408

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Chaoua S, Boussaa S, El Gharmali A, Boumezzough A (2018) Impact of irrigation with wastewater on accumulation of heavy metals in soil and crops in the region of Marrakech in Morocco. J Saudi Soc Agric Sci

  47. Solgi E, Shahverdi Nick M, Solgi M (2017) Threat of copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium in alfalfa (Medicago scutellata) as livestock forage and medicinal plant. Ecopersia 5:1981–1990

    Google Scholar 

  48. Ghosh M, Singh S (2005) A review on phytoremediation of heavy metals and utilization of it’s by products. Asian J Energy Environ 6:18

    Google Scholar 

  49. Usman A, Kuzyakov Y, Stahr K (2005) Effect of immobilizing substances and salinity on heavy metals availability to wheat grown on sewage sludge-contaminated soil. Soil Sediment Contam 14:329–344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  50. Alloway B, Ayres DC (1997) Chemical principles of environmental pollution. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  51. Li Y, McCrory D, Powell J, Saam H, Jackson-Smith D (2005) A survey of selected heavy metal concentrations in Wisconsin dairy feeds. J Dairy Sci 88:2911–2922

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  52. Mbarki S, Cerdà A, Zivcak M, Brestic M, Rabhi M, Mezni M, Jedidi N, Abdelly C, Pascual JA (2018) Alfalfa crops amended with MSW compost can compensate the effect of salty water irrigation depending on the soil texture. Process Saf Environ 115:8–16

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Ghaderpour O, Rafiee S, Sharifi M, Mousavi-Avval SH (2018) Quantifying the environmental impacts of alfalfa production in different farming systems. Sustain Energy Technol Assess 27:109–118

    Google Scholar 

  54. Adagunodo T, Sunmonu L, Emetere M (2018) Heavy metals’ data in soils for agricultural activities. Data Brief 18:1847–1855

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  55. Kelepertzis E (2014) Accumulation of heavy metals in agricultural soils of Mediterranean: insights from Argolida basin, Peloponnese, Greece. Geoderma 221:82–90

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  56. Xu X, Zhao Y, Zhao X, Wang Y, Deng W (2014) Sources of heavy metal pollution in agricultural soils of a rapidly industrializing area in the Yangtze Delta of China. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf 108:161–167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Esmaeili A, Moore F, Keshavarzi B, Jaafarzadeh N, Kermani M (2014) A geochemical survey of heavy metals in agricultural and background soils of the Isfahan industrial zone, Iran. Catena 121:88–98

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  58. European Union (2002) Heavy metals in wastes. European Commission on Environment, Brussels

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the faculty of veterinary medicine, University of Tehran, Iran (Project Number: 51035) and conducted at the nutrition lab of department of animal and poultry health and nutrition. The authors deeply appreciate Ms. Honarzad for her cooperation in chemical analysis.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Animal and Poultry Health and Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Rezaeian, Mahmoud Tohidi Moghadam, Mohammad Mehdi Kiaei & Homayoun Mahmuod Zadeh

Authors
  1. Mohammad Rezaeian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mahmoud Tohidi Moghadam
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mohammad Mehdi Kiaei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Homayoun Mahmuod Zadeh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mahmoud Tohidi Moghadam.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 20 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Rezaeian, M., Tohidi Moghadam, M., Kiaei, M.M. et al. The effect of heavy metals on the nutritional value of Alfalfa: comparison of nutrients and heavy metals of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) in industrial and non-industrial areas. Toxicol Res. 36, 183–193 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43188-019-00012-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43188-019-00012-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation