Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Health Journal

Objective: This cross sectional study was to model the soil-plant transfer mechanism of Cd in fern leaves and the health risk associated.

Method: A total of 29 fern leaves and soil were sampled from several locations in oil palm plantation and wet market in Pontian, Johor, between June to September 2015. Acid digestion method and Na2EDTA solution were used to digest the sample and the Cd concentration were analyzed using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). The soil-plant transfer mechanism was calculated by Transfer Factor quotient (TF) and human health risk was assessed by Target Hazard Quotient (THQ).

Results: In general, Cd was higher in red fern leaves (2.26 ± 0.06 μg/kg) compared to the green fern (0.48 ± 0.10 μg/kg). Cd was also slightly higher in red fern sampling soil (3.32 ± 0.03 μg/kg) compared to green fern soil (2.87 ± 0.005 μg/kg) (Z= -2.402, p = 0.016). Cd in fern leaves and soil samples were within the acceptable range specified by the Malaysia Food Regulation 1985 (1 x 103 μg/kg) and the Dutch reference value (8 x 102 μg/kg). There was no significant correlation between Cd in soil with the fern leaves. Cd was highly accumulated in the roots of red fern leaves (0.71 ± 0.60 μg/k). The soil-plant transfer mechanism indicated that TF was high in root-soil (0.98 μg/kg) and shoot-soil (0.51 μg/kg) of red fern. The THQ demonstrated that the reference population was within the acceptable of carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risk.

Keywords: Cadmium, Fern leaves, Transfer Factor, Soil, Health Risk