TITLE:
Heavy Metal Contamination of Vegetables
AUTHORS:
Shobhana Ramteke, Bharat Lal Sahu, Nohar Singh Dahariya, Khageshwar Singh Patel, Borislav Blazhev, Laurent Matini
KEYWORDS:
Heavy Metals, Vegetables, Contamination, Metal Pollution Index, Health Risk Index
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Environmental Protection,
Vol.7 No.7,
June
6,
2016
ABSTRACT: In
India, several (>50) vegetables are widely used as food due to their high
nutrition values. However, vegetables in industrial area are getting
contaminated with heavy metals by disturbing biological and biochemical
processes in the human body. In present study, the risk of human health by
heavy metals (Fe, As, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Hg) through the intake of
common vegetables i.e. Solanum lycopersicum, Solanum melongena, Amaranthus
tricolor L., Chenopodium album L., Spinacia oleracea and Coriandrum sativum obtained from the largest coal burning basin, Korba, India is described . The
concentration of Fe, As, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb and Hg in the soils (n = 6) was
ranged from 18,328 - 37,980, 85 - 105, 34 - 72, 314 - 760, 146 - 165, 126 -
164, 1.11 - 1.39, 116 - 148 and 0.11 - 0.21 mg/kg with mean value (p = 0.05) of
28,011 ± 6582, 96 ± 6, 57 ± 11, 597 ± 148, 153 ± 5, 145 ± 11, 1.26 ± 0.10, 133
± 11 and 0.16 ± 0.03 mg/kg, respectively. The contamination, sources and
bioaccumulation, pollution and health risk indices of the heavy metals i.e. As,
Fe, Cr, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd and Hg in the plants are described.