Determination of Heavy Metal Content of Wheat and Cultivation Areas in Van Center and Districts

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the existence of heavy metals in the soil and wheat samples collected from 26 pre-determined agricultural areas in Erciş, Gevaş, Gürpınar, Muradiye and Van Central districts. Samples were taken in 2012 harvest period. In addition to the physical and chemical properties of the samples, Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr existence was also examined. Wheat samples were separated in two parts as stalk and grain, heavy metal contents were determined. The heavy metal contents of soil samples includes 0.036-4.253 mg kg^-1 Ni; 0.391-1.476 mg kg^-1 Pb; 0.0188-0.1364 mg kg^-1 Cr and 0.0056-0.0912 mg kg^-1 Cd. In the stalk samples, the highest and the lowest heavy metal content was 0.742-1.839 mg kg^-1, for nickel; 0.811-2.249 mg kg^-1 for chromium; 0.0087-0.1730 mg kg^-1 for cadmium and 0072-0.2199 mg kg^-1 for lead, respectively. In the grain samples were determined as 0.981-5.413 mg kg^-1 for nickel; 0.0256-0.9074 mg kg^-1 for chromium; 0.0009-0.5040 mg kg^-1 for cadmium and 0.0196-0.3509 mg kg^-1 for lead.  Consequently, it is revealed that soils of the region do not have heavy metal contamination. The heavy metal contents in the straw and grains of wheat were determined to be the allowable limits in lead, chromium and cadmium, while in nickel it was below the limit values of some locations and above the limit values in some locations.