Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-018-2353-1 Potential Toxic Metal Accumulation in Soil, Forage and Blood Plasma of Bufaloes Sampled from Jhang, Pakistan Zafar Iqbal Khan 1  · Ilker Ugulu 2  · Sara Umar 3  · Kafeel Ahmad 1  · Naunain Mehmood 4  · Asma Ashfaq 1  · Humayun Bashir 1  · Muhammad Sohail 1 Received: 23 March 2018 / Accepted: 8 May 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract This study was conducted to determine the concentration of toxic metals in soil, forage and blood plasma of lactating and non-lactating bufaloes in the district Jhang, Punjab, Pakistan. Soil samples were collected from varying distances from the road side. Plasma separation was achieved by centrifugation. The concentration of arsenic (As), selenium (Se), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and cobalt (Co) were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spec- trophotometer. The results of the study showed that the mean As, Se and Cd concentrations in soil samples were lower while Cr, Fe, Zn, Cu and Co were higher than the ofcial guidelines. In plasma samples, mean concentration values of Co, Zn, Fe, Cd, Se and As were lower while Cu and Cr were higher than the recommended concentrations. According to the results of the study there was no potential exposure of toxicity in bufaloes of the study area. Keywords Soil · Forage · Blood plasma · Metals · Bufalo As natural components of ecosystems, metals and their allied compounds are present in all organisms, plants and soils, though in small quantities (Ugulu 2015c). Both natural and anthropogenic processes result in distribution of metals in environment (Dogan et al. 2014a). Metals are removed naturally through biogeochemical cycles, but human activi- ties have contributed to enormous quantities in environment even exceeding the rate of removal (Carneiro et al. 2016). Therefore, it is necessary to monitor their environmental levels and changes in ecosystems (Ugulu et al. 2012; Dogan et al. 2014b). The use of direct methods, in which the con- centration of elements or their compounds is determined in air, soil and water, does not fully refect the degree of the threat to humans and animals (Durkan et al. 2011; Ugulu 2015a; Ugulu et al. 2016). For this reason, measurements of chemical residues in tissues of animals are of growing importance for environmental studies. Biological methods that include bioindicators are used to defne the efect of harmful substances on living organisms (Ahmad et al. 2018). Environmental researches often use animals as indica- tors of the degree of environmental pollution with toxic metals. Identifcation of toxic metal concentrations in the organs of animals provides an indirect measure of environ- mental pollution while making it possible to determine the extent of exposure of animals to these elements in each area (Wieczorek-Dabrowska et al. 2013). Livestock are among the common animals used for bioindication/biomonitor- ing of environmental pollution in land ecosystems. Their biomonitoring results mainly from relatively long life-span, huge availability of basic data and relatively simple sam- pling procedure (Unver et al. 2015). Livestock is one of the major sub-sectors of agriculture in Pakistan. It contributes 12% to the gross domestic product and provides milk, meat, leather and manure. Rural communities are heavily dependent on this sector (Chandio et al. 2016). The nutritional needs of livestock are fulflled by fodder crops and minerals in soil. Forage analysis indicates the level of microminerals in soil (McDowell 2003). However, animal tissue, such as liver and kidney, and blood samples are better * Ilker Ugulu ilkerugulu@gmail.com 1 Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan 2 Buca Faculty of Education, Dokuz Eylul University, Izmir, Turkey 3 Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Sargodha, Pakistan 4 Department of Zoology, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan