Assessment of some Heavy Metals in the Vital Organs of some selected Ruminant Animals from Hadejia Central Abbattoir, Jigawa State – Nigeria

Abstract: Pollution of Environment by Toxic metals poses a serious threat to public health, as these metals can accumulate in the environment and be transferred up the Food chain, leading to Harmful Health effects in Animals and Humans. This study was conducted in order to Assess the concentration of some heavy metal levels namely, Lead, Cadmium, Zinc and Chromium in, liver, Heart and Kidney of Cattle, Sheep and Goat slaughtered at Hadejia Central Abattoir, Hadejia Local Government, Jigawa State, Nigeria fresh samples of liver, heart and kidney were collected from hadejia abbattoir, digested and analyzed using Microwave plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Results obtained were compared with Joint SON/WHO Guidelines. The concentrations of the metals (Cd, Cr and Pb) ranged from 0.00±0.00 to 0.02±0.00 mg/kg for Cd, 0.01±0.00 to 0.06±0.00 mg/kg for Cr,0.01±0.00 to 0.02±0.00 mg/kg for Pb, 1.72±0.26 to 3.54±1.23 mg/kg for Zn in the liver of cattle, goat and sheep. Similarly, the concentrations of the metals in the heart of cattle, goat and sheeps were found in the following ranges 0.00±0.00 to 0.01±0.00 mg/kg for Cd, 0.03±0.00 to 0.05±0.00 mg/kg for Cr, 0.01±0.00 to 0.02±0.00 mg/kg for Pb and 3.20±0.11 to 3.28±0.05 mg/kg for Zn. Likewise, the concentration ranges of 0.01±0.00 to 0.02±0.00 mg/kg for Cd, 0.01±0.00 to 0.04±0.00 mg/kg for Cr, 0.0±0.00 to 0.03±0.00 mg/kg for Pb and 2.35±0.70 to 2.96±0.12 mg/kg. The concentrations of Cd, Pb and Cr were lower than the maximum permissible limit of WHO/SON. But zinc levels in all the Analysed organs were above the permissible limit. Therefore liver, heart and kidney of cattle, goat and sheep have been contaminated with zinc. Results from ANOVA indicated no significant difference in heavy metal levels between the Analyzed organs in The Analyzed Animals at pvalue greater than 0.05.