Vol. 10, Special Issue 5 (2021)

Author(s):
Himalaya Bhardwaj, Chanchal Singh, BV Sunil Kumar and Digvijay Singh

Abstract:
With the pace at which the population is increasing in India, there is a constant increase in food demand and livestock products. Simultaneously, it increases burden on the industries to produce more. Pollutants from industrial waste, which contain highly toxic heavy metals, enter into food chain reaching to animal body. Toxic heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium) have various side effects on different organs of body like liver, kidney and thyroid. Many studies were conducted in the past to see the levels of heavy metals in blood, soil, milk and organ of buffaloes and cattle. Even though heavy metals are the oldest known toxins harmful to animals, heavy metal toxicity is still a topic that requires further investigation. Metallothionein plays important role in binding of heavy metals like cadmium and mercury by replacing zinc or copper. However, very less is known about metallothionein in buffalo and cattle. In this review we have tried to concise the information available in literature about heavy metals in livestock (tissues and blood) with reference to metallothionein.