DETERMINATION OF SELECTED TOXIC (Cd, Pb) AND ESSENTIAL (Zn, Cu) METALS IN RICE CULTIVATED IN ACHEFER, WESTGOJJAM, ETHIOPIA USING ICP-OES

Abstract

Rice is the most important staple food crop for more than half of the world’s population. In present study the rice samples were collected from Esetumite kebele farmers and Fogera rice samples from Bahir Dar market .Acid digestion methods were applied to digest the collected samples under fume hood on a hot plate. The concentration of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd were observed and analyzed by using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The measurements for metals copper, zinc, cadmium and lead in the present study of rice samples resulted in mean± SD values. Sample results from Esetumite kebele were determined in 0.0317± 0.0020, 0.2613± 0.0810, 0.0007± 0.0006 and 0.0093± 0.0049 as well as Fogera were 0.0453± 0.0064, 0.3333± 0.0483, 0.0217± 0.0133 and 0.0007± 0.0006 respectively. The determined concentrations of Zn, Cu and Pb in Fogera were greater than Esetumtie. But Cd in both sample collected sites had comparable results. The reasons for concentration difference of metals in rice might be the difference in geographical location, soil properties and genetic variation of the rice grains. According to the results obtained by the present study, the concentrations levels of elements in both sampling sites were included within the limits of the accepted values set by FAO/WHO.