Abstract:
Elevated level of groundwater arsenic (As) in Bangladesh has resulted as a massive calamity of exposing
a large population to health risk and affecting livelihood and sustainable development of the country. The
extensive use of arsenic contaminated groundwater in irrigation poses a potentially long term detrimental
effect to human health as well as it is an environmental hazard. Arsenic is spreading in various ways in
the environment and creating various hazards. This study was performed to detect the level of arsenic
concentration in animal feed chain. Grass and Water hyacinth samples of two commonly used animal
feeds were collected from arsenic contaminated areas of Faridpur district. After collection, the samples
were prepared by a series of steps such as, washing, drying and digestion; finally arsenic was determined
by atomic absorption spectophotometric method. For this purpose the FJ-HG-AAS (Flow Injection
Hydride Generator Atomic Absorption Spectophotometer) method was used. The arsenic absorbed by the
animal feed (grass and water hyacinth) samples was determined. The mean arsenic concentration in Grass
and Water hyacinth were 0.397±()'o75 ppm (n=20) and 0.365±O.035 ppm (n=20), respectively. In this
study it was found that the level of arsenic both in Grass and Water hyacinth is greater than that of the
maximum permissible level in drinking water (0.05 ppm, WHO). This study was performed to detect the
level of arsenic in animal feed of As contaminated area of Faridpur district.
