Determination of Cadmium (Cd) and Arsenic (As) concentration in the Liver and Kidney of Domestic Pigeons (Columba livia) infected with Cestoda worms in Al-Nasiriyah City, southern Iraq

The aim of the current study was to determine the amounts of heavy metals and to illustrate the potential risk they posed to birds by measuring the bioaccumulate of cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) in cestode worms and the liver and kidney tissue of Columba livia (host) infected with Raillietina sp. Three hundred C. livia birds were gathered from an Al-Nassiriyah city local market. The birds were split into two groups: the healthy group and the group infected with Raillietina sp. The three genera of tapeworms that infected the 119 birds were Raillietina sp., Cotugina sp. and Apronia sp. with relative infection rates of 52.8%, 27.9% and 19.1% respectively. The Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS) was used to measure the amounts of heavy elements. In the summer, the quantity of cadmium in the liver tissues of infected birds was highest (0.60 μg/g) as dry weight, while in healthy birds, the highest value was observed in the autumn. When comparing cadmium with arsenic concentrations, the latter has lower bioaccumulation levels in infected birds. The highest concentration was found in intestinal tissues during the winter, reaching 0.0092 μg/g of dry weight. Similarly, high concentrations were found in liver tissue during the summer, amounting to 0.009 μg/g of dry weight.