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g
/
g
)
Soil depth (cm),
Fig. 1. Variation of iron concentration with depth in different soils irrigated with sewage water (Kano site)
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
0-5 5 - 10 10 - 15 15-20 20-25 25-30 Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
Z
n
(
g
/
g
)
.
Depth in cm.
Fig. 3. Variation of Zinc concentration with depth in different farm soils irrigated with sewage
water (Kano site)
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0-5 5 - 10 10 - 15 15-20 20-25 25-30
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
m
a
g
n
e
s
i
u
m
(
g
/
g
)
Depth in (cm)
Fig. 2. Variation of Mg concentration with depth in different farm soils irrigated with
sewage water (Kano site)
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
Fig. 5. Variation of Copper concentration with depth infarm soils irrigated with sewage
water (Kano site)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
0-5 5 - 10 10 - 15 15-20 20-25 25-30 Rec. level
Soil depth (cm).
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
m
e
t
a
l
s
(
g
/
g
)
.
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
0-5 5 - 10 10 - 15 15-20 20-25 25-30 Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
m
a
n
g
a
n
e
s
e
(
g
/
g
)
.
Depth in cm
Fig. 4. Variation of Manganese concentration with depth in different farmsoils irrigated
with sewage water (Kano site).
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
0-5 5 - 10 10 - 15 15-20 20-25 25-30 Rec. level
c
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
c
h
r
o
m
i
u
m
(
g
/
g
)
Depth (cm)
Fig. 6. Variation of Chromium concentration with depthin different soils irrigated with
sewage water (Kano site)
Lettuce
Roselle
Onions
Carrot
Bushgreen
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
The following general observations are evident from
these results:
The concentrations of the heavy metals generally
showed a gradual decrease with increase in soil depth;
the highest concentrations were found in the surface
depth 0 5 cm. Similar observations were reported on a
study of the heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd) in soil
samples in Brestnik village in Bulgaria
7
.
Except for Fe and Mn, the concentrations of other heavy
metals (Zn, Cu and Cr) in all farm soils were higher than
the maximum permissible levels of these metals in farm
soils
11-12
.
The concentrations of Fe, Mg, Zn and Mn in Roselle
farm soils (Figures 1- 4) and Cu and Cr in Bushgreen
farm soils compared with other farm soils reflect the
relatively higher concentrations of these metals in the
urban grey waste water used for the irrigation of the
respective farm soils.
3.3 LEVELS OF HEAVY METALS IN DIFFERENT
PARTS OF PLANTS IRRIGATED WITH
UNTREATED URBAN URBAN GREY WASTE
WATER.
The variation of Fe, Mg, Zn, Mn, Cu and Cr concentrations
in different parts of the plants under study are illustrated in
Figures 7 to 12. The maximum tolerable levels of Cr, Cu,
Mn Zn and Fe in plants proposed by various countries are 5
30 g/g, 20 100 g/g, 300 500 g/g, 100 400 g/g
and 750 - 1000 g/g respectively, which are commonly
referred as critical concentrations in plants, above which
toxicity is likely to occur
1-2
.
The following general observations can be made from these
results:
In virtually all the vegetable plants, the concentrations of
heavy metals in all parts of the plant were higher than their
critical concentrations. For example:
The Zn and Cr in all parts of Bushgreen plant (leaves, stem
and roots) were respectively 6, 5, 8 times and 15, 10, 5 times
higher than their critical concentrations. The concentration of
Cu in the roots of Bushgreen plant was found to be 21 times
higher than its critical concentration.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
16000
18000
20000
Leaves
(unwashed)
Leaves
(washed)
Stem Roots Fruits Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
I
r
o
n
(
g
/
g
)
Fig. 7 Variation of mean concentrations of iron in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
Okro
Bushgreen
Lettuce
Onions
Roselle
Carrot
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
Leaves
(unwashed)
Leaves
(washed)
Stem
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
M
a
g
n
e
s
i
u
m
(
g
/
g
)
Fig. 8 Variation of mean concentrations of Magnesium in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
Stem Roots Fruits
Fig. 8 Variation of mean concentrations of Magnesium in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
Okro
Bushgreen
Lettuce
Onions
Roselle
Carrot
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
Leaves
(unwashed)
Leaves
(washed)
Stem Roots Fruits Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
c
o
p
p
e
r
(
g
/
g
)
Fig. 11 Variation of mean concentrations of Copper in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
Okro
Bushgreen
Lettuce
Onions
Roselle
Carrot
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Leaves
(unwashed)
Leaves
(washed)
Stem Roots Fruits Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
M
a
n
g
a
n
e
s
e
(
g
/
g
)
Fig 10 Variation of Mean concentrations of Manganese in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
Okro
Bushgreen
Lettuce
Onions
Roselle
Carrot
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
Rec. level = Recommended permissible level.
The concentrations of Zn and Mn in all parts of the Okro
plant are above their critical concentration (Figures 9 and
10). Specifically the concentrations of Cu and Cr in roots of
the Okro plant are 14 and 15 times respectively higher than
their critical concentration levels in plants.
The concentrations of Zn and Cr in lettuce plant are
respectively 1.6, 3.5, 3.5 and 10.3, 20.5, 5.1 times higher in
leaves, stem and roots than their corresponding critical
concentrations. Meanwhile the concentration of Cu in the
roots of Lettuce is 2 times higher while that of Mn in all
parts of lettuce are only slightly higher than their
corresponding critical concentrations in plants.
The concentration of Zn and Mn in Onion plants are
respectively 2.3, 2.5 and 2.9 times (Figure 9) and 1.3, 1.2,
1.4 times (Figure 10) higher in leaves, bulb and roots than
their corresponding critical concentrations in plants. In
addition the concentrations of Cu in leaves and roots of the
Onion plant were respectively 1.3 and 2.8 times higher than
its critical concentration in the plant.
These data obviously indicate potentially toxic levels of
these heavy metals: Zn, Cr, Cu and Mn in various
vegetable plants, Bushgreen, Okro, Lettuce and Onions
irrigated with urban grey waste water. The data are
particularly crucial to healthy use of the edible parts of
these plants. The high concentration of Cu in roots
compared to other parts of the plant may be attributed to
its low translocation within the plant compared to other
elements
4
. The high concentrations of Zn and Mn in the
leaves and also Cu and Cr in the roots of Okro plant are
in agreement with the observations made by other
researchers
8
who ranked the translocation of Mn, Zn, Cu
and Cr to the plant top in the order: Mn and Zn > Cu >
Cr. The concentration levels of Zn in Onion plant agrees
with the trend reported on the study of levels of Cr, Cu
and Zn in edible vegetables grown in Tarragon Province
Spain
9
.
The data from this study also show that Onion roots have
the ability to accumulate a relatively high concentration
of Fe, Zn, and Mn (Figures. 7, 9, 10 and 11). This
observation is substantiated by the work that showed
high concentration of heavy metals are established in
roots with small diameter (1mm) and that the
concentrations of these metals decrease significantly in
roots of larger diameter
7
.
For most of the vegetable plants, the concentrations of
the heavy metals (Figures. 7 - 12) were highest in the
leaves (unwanted) and roots compared with their
corresponding levels in leaves (washed) and stems. Okro
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
Leaves
(unwashed)
Leaves
(washed)
Stem Roots Fruits Rec. level
C
o
n
c
e
n
t
r
a
t
i
o
n
o
f
C
h
r
o
m
i
u
m
(
g
/
g
)
Fig. 12 Variation of mean concentrations of Chromiun in parts of plants irrigated with
sewage water
Okro
Bushgreen
Lettuce
Onions
Carrot
International Journal of Scientific Research Engineering & Technology (IJSRET)
Volume 2 Issue 10 pp 627-636 January 2014 www.ijsret.org ISSN 2278 0882
IJSRET @ 2014
leaves (unwashed) have higher concentrations of Fe,
Mg, and Mn while Cu in Okro, Bushgreen, Lettuce,
Onions and Roselle plant tends to accumulate in the
roots; (Figures. 7, 8, 10 and 11). A maximum of 44% Fe
in Okro, 66.7% Cr in Bushgreen, ,18.6% Fe in lettuce,
80% Cu in Onions and 40% Cu in Carrots of their
respective leaves were removed by washing the leaves in
tap water. On the other hand, only a relatively minor
amount of Mn was removed by washing the leaves of
Okro, Lettuce, Onions and Roselle plants in the water
(Figure 10).
The high concentration of Mn and Fe in the leaves of Carrot,
Okro and Roselle plants compared to their high
concentration in the roots of other plants studied confirms
the observation that the extent of distribution of heavy
metals in different parts of the plants depends on the metal
concerned and the plants specie
2
. The observed low
percentage of Mn removed by washing lettuce, onions and
Roselle leaves in tap water compared with that of other
heavy metals reflects its deeper penetration into the leaves
system of the plants
2-3
.
4. CONCLUSIONS
The following conclusions can be made from the results of
this study.
The concentrations of Fe, Zn, Cu and Cr in the urban grey
waste waters used for irrigating the different farm soils are
above the maximum levels of these metals recommended for
water used on all types of soil.
The concentrations of heavy metals in Lettuce, Roselle,
Onions, Carrot and Bushgreen farm soils irrigated with
urban grey waste water range from 84 24 percent
contamination levels depending on the depth of the soil (0
25 cm to 25 30 cm).
The concentrations of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu and Cr in most parts
of the vegetable plants (leaves, stem, and roots) were above
the critical concentration levels in plants. This suggests
potential toxicity of these parts particularly the edible parts
of the plants.
A substantial amount of heavy metals in the leaves of the
vegetable plants can be removed easily by washing the
leaves under running tap water. Over 40% of the
concentrations of Fe, Mg, Zn and Cr in Onions, Fe in Okro,
Cr in Bushgreen, Cu in Roselle and Zn and Cu in Carrot
leaves can be removed by washing.
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elements in soils and plants. CRC Press, Boca
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2. Alloway B J, Heavy Metals in soil (Blackie,
Glasgow, UK) 1990.
3. Voutsa D, Grimanis A and Samara C, Trace
elements in vegetables grown in an industrial
area in relation to soil and air particulate matter.
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4. Smith C J, Hopmans P and Cook F J,
Accumulation of Cr, Pb, Cu, Ni, Zn and Cd in
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323 (1996).
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