Heavy Metals Bioconcentration from Soil to Vegetables and Assessment of Health Risk Caused by Their Ingestion

The present study was undertaken to assess the non-carcinogenic human health risk of heavy metals through the ingestion of locally grown and commonly used vegetables viz. Raphanus sativus (root vegetable), Daucus carota (root vegetable), Benincasa hispida (fruit vegetable) and Brassica campestris leaves (leafy vegetable) in a semi-urbanized area of Haryana state, India. Heavy metal quantification of soil and vegetable samples was done using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Lead, cadmium and nickel concentration in vegetable samples varied in range of 0.12-6.54 mg kg(-1), 0.02-0.67 mg kg(-1) and < 0.05-0.41 mg kg(-1), respectively. Cadmium and lead concentration in some vegetable samples exceeded maximum permissible limit given by World Health Organization/Food and Agriculture Organization and Indian standards. Much higher concentrations of Pb (40-190.5 mg kg(-1)), Cd (0.56-9.85 mg kg(-1)) and Ni (3.21-45.87 mg kg(-1)) were reported in corresponding vegetable fields' soils. Correlation analysis revealed the formation of three primary clusters, i.e. Cu-Cd, Cd-Pb and Ni-Zn in vegetable fields' soils further supported by cluster analysis and principal component analysis. Bioconcentration factor revealed that heavy metals' uptake was more by leafy vegetable than root and fruit vegetables. Hazard index of all the vegetables was less than unity; thus, the ingestion of these vegetables is unlikely to pose health risks to the target population.