A comprehensive Health Risk Assessment Associated with Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals and Nutrients in selected Macrophytes of Loktak Lake, Manipur, India

Abstract

Abstract A comprehensive assessment was conducted to evaluate the accumulation of selected heavy metals and nutrients in 10 dominant macrophyte species growing in the Loktak Lake, a Ramsar site, and to assess the potential health risks associated with the consumption of the edible plants. The concentrations of nutrients such as total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), and heavy metals such as copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), zinc (Zn), and iron (Fe) were measured, and found to be present in the order of plant > sediment > water. The bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) revealed high efficiency of most plants to accumulate heavy metals and nutrients in their tissues from the lake water and sediments, indicating their potential to be used as phytoremediators. Translocation factors (TFs) were also estimated to determine the efficiency of the plants to translocate elements from root to shoot. Colocasia esculenta and Polygonum perfoliatum were found to exhibit the highest BAF and TF values for most of the parameters. Target hazard quotients (THQs) revealed potential health risk associated with one or more heavy metals in the plants, except for Zn whose THQ values were below the level of concern in all the edible plant species. The hazard index (HI) signifying potential non-carcinogenic health risk from the combined effects of all the heavy metals was found to be highest for Polygonum perfoliatum, indicating a potentially higher risk to health if this edible macrophyte is regularly consumed in higher quantities and may pose long-term health effects to the exposed population.