Multielement analysis in rice grains by instrumental neutron activation analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Over 114 countries in the world grow rice and more than 50 countries have an annual rice production of 100,000 tonnes or more. Asian farmers produce about 90% of the global total rice production. Generally, there are two most common varieties of rice; cultivated and hill rice. Nowadays a lot of agriculture land is contaminated with toxic elements owing to the use of sludge or municipal compost, pesticides, fertilizers and emissions from municipal waste incinerators, car exhausts, residues from metalliferous mines, and smelting industries. The distribution and concentration of several toxic elements in grains particularly rice has lately become a big concern. A study to determine the  concentrations of some elements in a few varieties of rice in our local market using Instrumental Neutron Activation Analysis has been performed by Waste and Environmental Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency. A total of 15 elements were measured. The method was validated by analysing the Standard Reference Material SRM-1568a (Rice Flour) and SRM-1573a (Tomato Leaves) of NIST. The measured concentrations of major and minor elements were analysed in terms of the average intake of nutrient content and comparison of several toxic elements to other studied values.

 ABSTRAK

 Lebih 114 negara di dunia menanam padi dan lebih daripada 50 negara mempunyai pengeluaran tahunan  beras  sebanyak 100,000 tan atau lebih. Petani di Asia mengeluarkan sekurang-kurangnya 90% jumlah pengeluaran global beras. Lazimnya  terdapat dua variati beras; beras yand di tanam di sawah dan bers bukit. Kini terdapat banyak tanah pertanian yang dicemari dengan elemen toksik disebabkan penggunaan enapcemar atau baja dari bandaran, racun serangga, baja,  pelepasan dari insinerasi bahan buangan bandaran, pelepasan kenderaaan, sisa dari lombong  dan industry peleburan. Taburan dan kepekatan beberapa toksik elemen dalam bijirin terutamanya beras telah mendapat perhatian kebelakangan ini. Satu kajian telah dijalankan oleh Bahagian Teknologi Sisa dan Alam Sekitar, Agensi Nuklear Malaysia bagi menentukan kepekatan elemen dalam beberapa jenis beras yang tedapat dalam pasaran tempatan menggunakan analisis pengaktifan nutron instrumental. Sejumlah 15 elemen telah dibuat pengukuran. Pengesahan kaedah dilakukan dengan  menganalisis  Bahan Rujukan Piawai SRM-1568a (Rice Flour) dan  SRM-1573a (Tomato Leaves) dari NIST. Kepekatan elemen major dan minor yang telah diukur dianalisis kandungan nutrisi purata pengambilan and perbandingan beberapa elemen toksik dengan kajian lalu.