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Page No. : 71-74

ABSTRACT

A study was conducted to estimate certain heavy metals (lead and cadmium) residues by atomic absorption spectrophotometer in muscle and organs of chicken (broiler), buffalo, goat, sheep and pig collected from Hyderabad city. Among food animal species, the overall mean concentrations of lead residues were significantly higher in pig (2.329 ppm) and buffalo (2.275 ppm) than sheep (1.685 ppm), chicken (1.635 ppm) and goat tissue samples (1.115 ppm). Tissues did not significantly influence the levels of lead. Among the analysed samples, 9.09% of chicken, 36.36% of buffalo and 40.9% of pig samples contained lead residues more than the stipulated MRL values of 2.5 ppm specified by MFPO,2004. However, none of the goat and sheep samples showed lead content above the MRL. The overall mean value of cadmium in tissues of chicken (0.244 ppm) was significantly (P<0.05) higher than goat (0.180 ppm), sheep (0.176 ppm) and buffalo (0.188 ppm). The concentration of cadmium residues was significantly (P<0.01) higher in organ tissues, when compared to muscle. However, none of the samples exceeded the prescribed limit. It can be inferred from the present study that the residues of heavy metals were found in majority of the analysed muscle and organs samples of food animals.

Keywords: Buffalo, chicken, food animal tissues, goat, heavy metals, residues, sheep, pig.