en Original Article <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Background:</strong> Soil pollution and accumulation of heavy metals in crops in industrial areas is one of the most important environmental issues threatening the life of plants, animals, and humans. The aim of this study was to determine the concentration of Cr and Cd in the soil and barberry plants in farms surrounding the Qayen Cement Company, South Khorasan Province, Iran.</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Materials and Methods:</strong> In this study, 8 soil samples were collected from a depth of 0-30 cm and 30-60 cm and 4 samples of barberry plant containing fruits and leaves in summer 2014. The concentrations of Cr and Cd in the samples were determined using atomic absorption spectrometry.</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Results:</strong> The maximum concentration of Cr and Cd was observed in the soil sample collected from a depth of 0-30 cm (95.10 and 1.32 mg/kg of soil, respectively). The concentration of Cr and Cd was higher in the fruits of barberry than the leaves; 18.58 mg/kg and 59.45 &micro;g/kg, respectively, which are higher than the standard values. Transfer factor was calculated as less than 1 for all stations.</span></p> <p dir="ltr" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: times new roman;"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> According to obtained results, Qayen Cement Company has the greatest impact on plants in this region. The barberry fruit is the strategic product in Qayen; therefore, attention to and management of the impact of the cement factory on agricultural products is necessary.</span></p> Heavy Metals, Transfer Factor, Cement, Barberry 216 223 http://johe.rums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-64-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 MR Rezaei rezaeimr@yahoo.com 2240031947532846003894 2240031947532846003894 No Dept. of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. University of Birjand MH Sayadi mh_sayadi@yahoo.com 2240031947532846003895 2240031947532846003895 Yes Dept. of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. University of Birjand M Khaksarnejad Maryamkhaksarnejad@yahoo.com 2240031947532846003896 2240031947532846003896 No Dept. of Environmental Science, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, University of Birjand, Birjand, Iran. University of Birjand