Heavy Metals In Wild Rice From Gure Kagoro And Kaduna Kaduna State Nigeria

ABSTRACT The whole plants of wild rice were collected from Gure Kagoro and Kaduna of Kaduna state in order to determine the concentration of Cu Mn Pb and Ni in wild rice plants. HNO3-H2O2 was used for digestion. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used for the determination of heavy metals in plants digest. Ni and Co were uniformly distributed in small quantity in all the plant parts. Mn and Cu were differently distributed in good amount with the roots recording the highest amount of Cu. The leaves recorded Mn and Pb as the highest. Gure location recorded the highest amount of Ni Mn and Pb while Cu was recorded as the highest in Kaduna location. ANOVA at 95confidence level show that there is no significant different in concentration of Cu Ni and Pb in all the locations and plant parts. But the concentrations of Mn was significantly different in plant parts and locations at 95 confidence level. The concentration of the metals in grain were compared with other studies as well as WHOFAO reference standard and most of the metals concentration in grain were within the limit for food quality standard. However Cu concentration in grain was a little higher than the WHOFAO reference limit and may pose danger in humans and animals who may consume the grain in the near future.