Heavy Metals in Soil and Vegetables and Their Effect on Health

Abstract

The present study was carried out to assess heavy metals Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), Chromium (Cr) and Nickel (Ni) levels in vegetables like Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis), Cabbage (Brassica oleracea), Carrot (Daucus carota), Brinjal (Solanum melongena), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and Radish (Raphanus sativus) irrigated with domestic wastewater. The vegetable samples were randomly collected from the farmlands irrigated with domestic wastewater around the Hisar district. Spinach, cabbage, brinjal and carrot accumulated higher Cd (1.30±0.31 mg kg-1), Pb (4.23±0.32 mg kg-1), Cu (1.42±0.25 mg kg-1), Zn (3.4±0.28 mg kg-1), Cr (1.16±0.11 mg kg-1) and Ni (2.45±0.86 mg kg-1) respectively. Transfer Factor (TF) of Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr and Ni are more in spinach (0.0306), cabbage (0.4448), spinach (0.2642), cauliflower (0.2494), carrot (0.0764) and spinach (0.7469) respectively. The health risk assessment has been calculated followed by Estimated Daily Intake Metal (EDIM) and Estimated Health Risk Index (EHRI). The present study highlights that both adults and children consuming vegetables grown in wastewater irrigated soils accumulate significant amount of these metals. However, the values of these metals were lesser than recommended maximum tolerable levels proposed by the FAO/WHO (1999).

The Bioconcentration and the Translocation of Heavy Metals in Recently Consumed Salicornia ramosissima J. Woods in Highly Contaminated Estuary Marshes and Its Food Risk

“…These results coincide with those obtained by Sánchez-Martínez et al [124] in the perennial shrub Arthrocnemum subterminale in the presence of Zn, Cu, Cd, Pb, and As, based on the results of Liu et al [129] for Cd, Pb, Cr, and AS in 23 plant species under natural conditions in China. Our results also fit with those of Pal et al [36] for Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr, and Ni in six plant species irrigated with domestic wastewater in India and with those of Chabchoubi et al [16] for Zn, Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni in three plants, including the perennial scrub Sarcocornia fruticosa (L.) A.J. Scott (known as Salicornia arabica L.), which grows in phosphogypsum-contaminated fields in Tunisia.…”

“…Various parameters could be used to quantify these hazards but the most common is the Health Risk Index (HRI), which is based on the Estimated Daily Intake (EDI) (mg kg −1 body weight day −1 ) and on the dose reference (R f D) (mg kg −1 body weight day −1 ); this parameter generally uses the values established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency [30][31][32], widely used for vegetable consumption [33][34][35][36][37].…”

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“…Никель является одним из приоритетных загрязнителей окружающей природной среды. Загрязнение агроценозов никелем происходит в результате выбросов предприятий черной и цветной металлургии, приборо-и машиностроения, ненормированного применения в сельском хозяйстве в качестве удобрения осадков сточных вод (Гигиеническая оценка…, 1999;Бушуев, Шуравин, 2014;Кашулина, 2017;Jitender et al, 2017).…”

“…Хром является одним из самых высокотоксичных загрязнителей природной среды. Поступление хрома в агроценозы происходит в результате деятельности предприятий черной и цветной металлургии, машино-и приборостроения, энергетики, стройматериалов, ненормированного применения в качестве удобрений осадков сточных вод (Гигиеническая оценка…, 1999;Бушуев, Шуравилин, 2014;Королев, Боев, 2017;Минкина и др., 2017а;Jitender et al, 2017). Влияние металла на растения зависит от его валентности: шестивалентный катион в значительной степени токсичнее трехвалентного.…”

Biosorption of Ni2+ and Cr3+ in synthetic sewage: Adsorption capacities of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

“…Consumption of food items containing heavy metals has long been identified to have numerous effects on human health [4][5][6]. Heavy metals bio-accumulate in both plants and animals [7] hence if discharged into streams and rivers, it could be incorporated into planktons and fishes which will consequently affect humans through the food chain.…”