Measured concentrations of heavy metals (lead, copper, zinc, manganese) in wheat root Darreh Zereshk Region, Yazd Province

Pollution of agricultural lands is a widespread problem in mine regions. The transport of the pollutants through the food chain, causes their accumulation s in tissues of plants and animals which endangers their health. This study aimed to measure the concentrations of heavy metals (lead, copper, zinc and manganese) in wheat roots of Darreh Zaresh villages which might be used for future environmental monitoring. Ten wheat samples, were collected from each of four villages. After dry acid digestion, the metal concentrations were measured using an ICP-OES instrument. Statistical analyzes were performed using the SPSS(17) software. Concentration of Cu, Zn, Pb and Mn in the roots of wheat samples collected from different villages were significantly different.The highest concentrations of copper, lead and zinc, were observed in wheat roots of Darreh Zereshk village (60.3, 164.3, 123.1, 197.8) mg/kg dry weight, respectively and the highest concentrations of manganese were observed in wheat roots of Hasan Abad village (224.8) mg/kg dry weight. The lowest concentrations of copper, lead, zink and manganese were observed in wheat roots of Darreh Gazeh village (9.8, 21.1, 43.1 and 118.1) mg/kg dry weight, respectively. It is necessary to exploit the mine observing the environmental standards until the transfer contaminations is prevented.