English abstract
The concerns of ecosystems with heavy metal contamination around industrial areas are becoming a serious problem all over the world. Sohar industrial area has large number of industries operating in a confined area closer to agriculture farms which cultivates alfalfa as fodder for their livestock. The objectives of this study are measuring the concentration of heavy metals in irrigation water, soil and plant (alfalfa, Medicago sativa), measuring the physio-chemical parameters in irrigation water and soil, evaluating the sources of the heavy metals in plant from soil and irrigation water and calculating bioaccumulation factors in the root and shoot of alfalfa. Metals in water samples are low except Al, Zn and Pb. There is weak correlation between the physiochemical parameters and the presence of the metals except for Al which shows high correlation with salinity. For soil samples, metal concentrations are found to be in the order of Fe >Al> Ni> Zn>Cr> Co>Cu>Pb. Weak correlation between the metals and the physiochemical parameters of the soil. Most of the farm soil are saline in nature. The metal bioaccumulate more in root than shoot and among the metals Pb translocated the maximum from the root to the shoot. In all the samples, the concentrations of metal are below the maximum permissible limit and there is no significant difference with distance. The results demonstrate that there is no risk associated with consumption of alfalfa grown in these farms. Further studies are needed to be conducted to understand the pathways of metal exposure and uptake in plants.
