Revista de Chimie https://revistadechimie.ro https://doi.org/10.37358/Rev.Chim.1949 Rev. Chim., 71 (9), 2020, 221-229 221 https://doi.org/10.37358/RC.20.9.8332 Assessing Health Risk in Livestock through Quantification of Iron in Forages, Soil and Buffalo Blood from Sargodha, Pakistan YONGJUN YANG 1 , ZAFAR IQBAL KHAN 2 *, KAFEEL AHMAD 2 , MUHAMMAD FAHAD ULLAH 3 , MUHAMMAD NADEEM 4 , HUMAYUN BASHIR 1,6 , MUDASRA MUNIR 2 , IFRA SALEEM MALIK 2 , NIMRA ARSHAD 2 , JING MA 1 , FU CHEN 1 , ILKER UGULU 5 1 School of Environment Science and Spatial Informatics, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China 2 Department of Botany, University of Sargodha, Pakistan 3 Department of Earth Sciences, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan 4 Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Pakistan 5 Faculty of Education, Usak University, Usak, Turkey 6 Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan Abstract: Air pollution is very important issue now-a-days. This has affected the components of environment to a great extent. Organisms like animals, plants and human beings are forced to live in such polluted environments. One of the pollution sources to the environment is vehicular traffic which has toxic effect on the roadside plants. In this study, roadside forages, soil and buffalo blood were studied to estimate the level of heavy metal pollution, iron in particular, in Sargodha from six chosen sites at perimeter of major roads. Collected samples were processed and digested for quantification of iron by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Soil and buffalo samples from the site V showed high concentration of iron, whereas in forage, samples collected from site IV had greatest iron concentration. The bio concentration factor found for forage-soil was highest in the samples collected from site IV. On the other hand, bio-concentration factor for blood-forage and pollution load index was found highest in the samples collected from site V. Correlation for soil-forage and blood-forage was found negatively non-significant. The daily intake of metals for iron was found highest for site IV. The Health risk index was highest for the samples collected from site VI. Keywords: forage, soil, iron, buffalo blood, bio-concentration factor 1.Introduction Biota has been adversely affected by pollution caused by various agents in the environment. Most concerning factor causing pollution is the heavy traffic on roads. Biota has been adversely affected by pollution caused by various agents in the environment. Most concerning factor causing pollution is the heavy traffic on roads [1]. Rusting of body parts of automobiles, burning of lubricants and fuel, wear and tear of tires, removal of paint, and breakage of the batteries are the major operations of the automobiles from which heavy metals are added to the atmosphere. Cu, Fe, Pb, Zn and Cd are added to the environment via these pollution sources [2- 4]. Throughout the world the inorganic pollution caused by heavy metals has been a matter of grave concern [5- 9]. Intensity of the traffic on roads affects the extent of heavy metal pollution. Low fuel quality and fuel inefficient vehicles intensify the traffic associated pollution [10]. The elevated concentrations of heavy metals released from heavy traffic pose extremely toxic effects on the living organisms like roadside plants [11, 12]. Plant growth along with metabolic processes of plants is widely affected by heavy metal accumulation in soft plant parts [13- 15]. Stomata openings are blocked by dust and heavy metals inhibiting gaseous exchange. Heavy metals cause cellular damage, metabolic disorders, inhibit enzyme function, disturb biochemical and physiological processes and stunt shoot/root growth [16] decreasing the productivity of plants [17]. *email: zafar.hed@gmail.com