Horse Hair as an Indicator of Pb Pollution Around Shiraz Oil Industry, Iran

The objective of the current study was to assess the potential for using the horse hair as a bio-indicator of environmental pollution. Horse hair samples from different radial distances from oil and petrochemical industries of Shiraz were analyzed to determine their Pb content. Viz farms located in radial zone of 1-1.5, 1.5-5, 5-7, 7-10 km, respectively considered as group A, B, C and D. Group E (control farms) were far from exam place and roads. In order to sampling, each farm was visited at every season and from 19 selected horses approximately 2 g cervical skin hair was collected. The lead content of samples was measured by Atomic Absorption spectrometer. The horses which were located closer to oil industry had higher hair Pb content. In all seasons except for winter significant differences existed between group A and all other groups (p<0.05). Also by respect of going from spring to winter we can see decline in lead burden in all groups. In this study, hair Pollution Factor (PF) of lead, 1-3.95 may reflect the higher effect of environmental pollution and anthropogenic interference. The results showed increases Pb concentration in the hairs of the horses according to decrease of distance to oil industry, therefore Pb as determined in the hair of the animals, showed a certain potential for using horses as bio-indicators of environmental pollution.