Assessment Of The Levels Of Essential And Non-Essential Elements And Major Quality Indicators Of Different Varieties Of Barley Grown In Woliso District South West Showa Zone Of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Abstract

Barley is one of the oldest cultivated cereal grains and grows almost in all agro-climatic conditions. Ethiopia is among the areas where barley is widely cultivated and consumed. In the present study three barley varieties (Abba dulla, Black Barley and Waketena), were collected from South West Showa Zone Woliso Distrct, Abadho Jawe Locality. The collected samples were treated and grounded to fine powder followed by digestion so as to prepare sample solutions for metals analysis. The levels of metals in the prepared solutions were analyzed using two different models of FAAS. The Shimadzu AA-6800 model was used for the analysis of Na, K, Mg and Ca metals where as the Varian spectra AA-20plus model was used for the analysis of Fe, Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb and Cd metals. Efficiency of the method was checked by standard addition (spiking) method. The average concentrations (mg/kg) of the analyzed metals in each variety were as follow: in AD Na (18.96), K (196.93), Mg (2.90), Ca (2.01), Fe (6.81), Zn (1.55), Cu (0.21), Mn (0.84), Pb (0.23) and Cd (BDL) ; in BB Na (25.77), K (241.90), Mg (11.95), Ca (2.24), Fe (8.82), Cu (0.15), Pb (0.14) and Cd (BDL) ; in WK Na (26.20), K (200), Mg (4.46), Ca (1.61), Fe (7.42), Cu (0.25), Zn (1.34), Mn (1.22), Pb (0.17) and Cd (BDL) respectively. The concentration of K was highest followed by Na and Fe in all samples though Black Barley is the most in K and Fe levels. The other barley variety, Waketena has got higher concentrations of Na, Mg as well as Cu and also K and Fe next to Black barley. This could be the reason why Waketena is known as a source of important diet to repair broken bone and as important feed for mothers and babies. The result of this study revealed that there were significant variations in the levels of Na, K, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn among Abba dulla, Black Barley and Waketena Barley varieties. However, there was no significant variation in the levels of Ca, Pb and Cd among the varieties, except between Abba dulla and Waketena as well as Abba dulla and Black Barley for lead concentration. Zinc was found to be higher from trace metals next to Fe in the varieties under study. The significant levels of Pb metal obtained in Abba dulla barley variety needs further detailed investigation with more sampling areas.