Nickel as an emerging environmental pollutant in goats

Abstract
In this study, the levels of nickel were determined in blood and tissues of goats reared in industrial, urban and rural areas of Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. Total 67 blood, 57 liver and kidney, 16 lung and 26 muscle samples were subjected for acid digestion in microwave digester. The nickel concentration was analysed by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Mean blood nickel level was recorded as 0.560±0.135 ppm which was higher than acceptable limit. Results reported that 8% of goats had high blood nickel level (02 to 07 ppm). Mean nickel concentration in liver, kidney, lung and muscle were 0.350±0.050, 0.494±0.053, 0.791±0.115 and 0.552±0.073 ppm, respectively. In this study, 02 liver, 02 kidney, 04 lung and 02 muscles had high nickel concentration of >1 ppm. It was concluded that there was appreciable concentrations of nickel were found in blood and tissues of goats especially from industrial areas.