Heavy metal uptake from greenhouse border soils for edible vegetables

Abstract

Abstract Six essential elements, cadmium and lead were determined in some horticultural species cultivated in greenhouse borders by atomic absorption spectrophotometry to evaluate the contribution of these vegetables to the daily intake of cadmium and lead in Spain. The existence of significant differences ( P <0.001) in the levels of metallic concentration found among the vegetable species has been proved, and the greater capacity of concentration of heavy metals, except copper, in green beans was observed. No statistically significant correlation ( P > 0.05) between the concentration of the soil and that of corresponding vegetable species was found. The heavy metal uptake from soil to plants is a function of the physical and chemical nature of the soil and is altered by innumerable environmental and human factors. If the mean levels of cadmium and lead (0.029 mg kg −1 and 0.221 mg kg −1 respectively) are taken into account, the daily intake contribution of these metals will be 1.4 μg day −1 for cadmium and 11 μg day −1 for lead.