Cereal Chem 58:530 - 533.  |  VIEW ARTICLE
Heavy Metal Content of Groats and Hulls of Oats Grown on Soil Treated with Sewage Sludges.

A. W. Kirleis, L. E. Sommers, and D. W. Nelson. Copyright 1981 by the American Association of Cereal Chemists, Inc. 

Oats (Avena sativa L. cv. Noble) were grown on soils treated with air-dried sewage sludge from three Indiana cities. Sludges were applied to a Chalmers silty clay loam soil at rates ranging from 56 to 448 t/ha. Oat samples were separated into groats and hulls, and concentrations of Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Fe, and Mn were determined in each fraction by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The concentration of trace metals in whole oats, groats, and hulls followed a similar pattern and, in general, decreased in the following order: Zn, Fe, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Cd. Except for Mn, the concentrations of trace metals increased with increasing rates of sludge applied. This pattern was similar in oats grown on nonamended and sludge-amended soils. The results indicated that the total intake of trace metals will be similar regardless of whether whole oats or only the groat fraction is consumed. However, the groats contained greater concentrations of Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd, and Mn than the hulls. The Fe content of groats and hulls was approximately the same. The ratio between metal content in groats and that in hulls tended to increase with increasing amounts of sludgeborne metals applied to the soil.