Corn (Zea mays L.): A low methylmercury staple cereal source and an important biospheric sink of atmospheric mercury, and health risk assessment.
Journal
Environment international
ISSN: 1873-6750
Titre abrégé: Environ Int
Pays: Netherlands
ID NLM: 7807270
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
10 2019
10 2019
Historique:
received:
28
03
2019
revised:
15
06
2019
accepted:
26
06
2019
pubmed:
10
7
2019
medline:
23
2
2020
entrez:
9
7
2019
Statut:
ppublish
Résumé
In mercury (Hg) contaminated areas of Asia, human exposure to toxic methyl-Hg (MeHg) through a rice-based diet of locally produced crop may pose a health threat. Alternative cropping system to rice in such areas would be most desirable. In this study, corn, the leading cereal source in the world with large biomass, was demonstrated to accumulate an insignificant amount of MeHg from the soil in its edible portion compared to that in rice, suggesting corn being a very competitive alternative crop. By examining Hg stable isotope composition, Hg in the aerial parts of corn was found to be mostly from the atmosphere. Maize cropping worldwide is estimated to be a discemible sink of atmospheric Hg with approximately 44 Mg Hg accumulated in each growing season on a yearly basis, most of which is from foliar uptake of atmospheric Hg and this amount is comparable to litterfall Hg observed in North America and Europe. It is thus recommended to use corn as a replacement of rice in highly Hg-contaminated areas for remediation of Hg pollution in the food supply.
Identifiants
pubmed: 31284107
pii: S0160-4120(19)31031-1
doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2019.104971
pii:
doi:
Substances chimiques
Air Pollutants
0
Methylmercury Compounds
0
Soil Pollutants
0
Mercury
FXS1BY2PGL
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
104971Informations de copyright
Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.