Content of Heavy Metals in Animal Feeds and Manures from Farms of Different Scales in Northeast China

Abstract

To determine the contents of heavy metal (Cu, Zn, As, Cr, Cd and Pb) in animal feeds and manures, 104 livestock feeds and 118 animal manure samples from farms of different herd size and located in northeast China were collected and their heavy metal concentrations were determined. The content of Cu, As and Cd ranged from 2.3–1,137.1 mg/kg dm, 0.02–13.03 mg/kg dm and non-detectable (nd)−31.65 mg/kg dm in pig feeds, 2.88–98.08 mg Cu/kg dm, 0.02–6.42 mg As/kg dm and non-detectable (nd)–8.00 mg Cd/kg dm in poultry feeds, and their content in cattle feeds was similar to that in poultry feeds. The typical content in pig manures was 642.1 mg Cu/kg dm, 8.6 mg As/kg dm, and 15.1 mg Cd/kg dm, which reflected the metal contents in feeds. The typical contents in poultry manures were 65.6 mg Cu/kg dm, 3.3 mg As/kg dm and 1.6 mg Cd/kg dm while the contents in cattle manures were 31.1 mg Cu/kg dm, 2.5 mg As/kg dm and 0.5 mg Cd/kg dm. Animal manure is an important source of heavy metals to the environment in Northeast China.