Cadmium in tissues of Japanese quail fed oat grain grown on municipal sludge‐amended soil

Abstract

Oats were cultured on soil amended with municipal sewage sludge from Syracuse, N. Y., or on soil alone (control). The oats were fed to male and female Japanese quail through four generations. The extent of absorption of cadmium by the oats and its deposition in tissues and eggs of the first and fourth generations of birds were determined. The tissue levels of cadmium found in the first (F₀) generation were kidney > liver > muscle ∼ eggs, with the quail from the sludge‐treatment group consistently showing the higher respective tissue levels. Female birds showed consistently higher tissue levels than those of the corresponding males. Kidney and liver tissues and eggs from the fourth generation (F₃) quail fed the sludge‐treatment diets were also higher than the corresponding controls, but tissues of the male quail were most often higher than the corresponding females.