Multivariate Analysis of Metal Levels in Paddy Soil, Rice Plants, and Rice Grains: A Case Study from Shakargarh, Pakistan

Table 4

Correlation coefficient matrix for various parameters in respective soil, plants, and grain samples (𝑛=35).

	Fe	Co	Ni	Cd	Pb	Cr
Moist. Content (%)	0.374	−0.392	−0.088	−0.159	−0.296	−0.325
pH	0.018	−0.495	−0.097	−0.259	−0.41	−0.483
EC (μS/cm)	0.008	0.366	−0.565	0.693	0.604	0.464
Cl^− (mg/kg)	−0.39	−0.221	−0.713	0.318	0.106	−0.112
NO3− (mg/kg)	−0.071	0.217	−0.163	0.332	0.35	0.246
SO42− (mg/kg)	−0.187	0.696	0.336	0.235	0.511	0.617
Soil
Fe	1.000
Co	0.127	1.000
Ni	0.554	0.085	1.000
Cd	−0.352	0.634	−0.686	1.000
Pb	−0.155	0.869	−0.372	0.912	1.000
Cr	0.050	0.978	−0.080	0.758	0.930	1.000
Plant
Fe	1.000
Co	0.260	1.000
Ni	0.155	−0.914	1.000
Cd	−0.632	−0.913	0.668	1.000
Pb	−0.385	−0.991	0.852	0.959	1.000
Cr	−0.135	−0.992	0.958	0.853	0.966	1.000
Grains
Fe	1.000
Co	0.183	1.000
Ni	−0.445	−0.930	1.000
Cd	−0.314	0.743	−0.446	1.000
Pb	−0.593	−0.563	0.820	0.132	1.000
Cr	−0.322	−0.164	0.459	0.474	0.860	1.000

r-values are significant at ±0.282 at 𝑃=0.05.