Potential health risk of heavy metals accumulation in vegetables irrigated with polluted river water

Heavy metals contamination in food crops is of increasing concern worldwide due to food safety issues and potential health risk. The present study has been undertaken to evaluate potential health risk due to the consumption of vegetables that grown in agricultural soil irrigated with polluted water of the Shitalakhya river in Narayangonj, Bangladesh. Agricultural soil and vegetables were analyzed for copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn) using Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS). The mean concentrations of heavy metals found in the agricultural soil were in the order of Ni (96.343 mg/kg) > Cr (69.746 mg/kg) > Cu (69.013 mg/kg) > Zn (45.726 mg/kg) > Pb (28.129 mg/kg) > Cd (0.9654 mg/kg). The mean concentrations of heavy metals in edible parts of selected vegetables were in the order of Zn (19.762 mg/kg) > Cu (9.373 mg/kg) > Pb (3.699 mg/kg) > Ni (2.92 mg/kg) > Cr (1.127 mg/kg) > Cd (0.168 mg/kg). The transfer factor (TF) values showed that there were no significant transfer of heavy metals from soil to vegetables. Comparing daily intake metals (DIM) values with oral reference dose, suggested that the consumption of vegetables grown in agricultural soil is nearly free of risks. Health risk index (HRI) values of the studied heavy metals were <1, indicating that there is a relative absence of health risks. (C) All Rights Reserved