ASSESSMENT OF LEVELS OF LEAD, CADMIUM, COPPER AND ZINC CONTAMINATION IN SELECTED EDIBLE VEGETABLES

Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to measure the level of heavy metals in edible vegetables (tomato, onion and green pepper) collected from Bahir Dar market, garden of Bahir Dar town and Adet Agricultural Research center (near Reb River). Levels of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn were determined using flame atomic absorption spectrometry after dry ashing process. The average concentrations of Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn were in the range of; 0.244- 0.987, 0.115- 0.536, 0.962-3.430 and 2.344- 4.136 mg/kg in tomato, 0.241- 0.43, 0.12- 0.441, 0.879-3.428 and 2.197- 3.259 mg/kg in onion and 0.28- 0.392, 0.128- 0.573, 1.229-2.991 and 3.081-4.242 mg/kg in green pepper respectively. The levels of those metals in all vegetables collected from the market site was higher than Adet Agricultural Research center but lower than garden in Bahir Dar town. The highest concentration of Zn in all vegetables of the analyzed metals was probably because it is considered as essential micronutrients for plants growth and can easily be taken up by plants or may be obtained from the water. The concentration of zinc and copper were within WHO guideline in all analyzed samples, while samples collected from the market and gardens of Bahir Dar town showed high increment in concentration of lead and cadmium from the permissible level set by FAO/WHO for consumption