Environmental Assessment of Heavy Metal Uptake and Accumulation in Sunflower Seeds

Contamination of sunflower seeds with toxic heavy metals poses a serious health risk to the consumers. This study was conducted to determine six heavy metals; lead, cadmium, chromium, copper, zinc and iron in thirty-six composite sunflower seeds collected from different ecological zones of Sindh. Metals were determined after wet acid digestion by using flame atomic absorption spectroscopy (FAAS). Individual mean concentrations were found in the range of 0.006–0.014 mg/kg (Cd), 0.038–0.063 mg/kg (Pb), 0.11–0.19 mg/kg (Cr), 2.44–3.74 mg/kg (Cu), 14.32–20.15 mg/kg (Zn), and 36.1–47.3 mg/kg (Fe) on a dry weight basis. All metal concentrations remained well within FAO/WHO permissible limits; however, samples collected from Tando jam and Kotri had comparatively higher levels due anthropogenic influence on this ecological zone.