Abstract: The levels of the heavy metals; cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were investigated in the vegetables (carrots and tomatoes) planted in farmlands around the old mine sites in Jos, Plateau State. These edible vegetables were planted and harvested at maturity. Atomic absorption spectroscopy was used for the analyses. The result reveals that cadmium concentrations ranged from 0.01 – 0.45mg/kg and lead concentrations ranged from 0.01 – 0.31mg/kg. The uptake of these metals by tomatoes was higher than that of carrots. The results further showed that concentrations of cadmium in some of the vegetables were above the Food and Agriculture Organization/ World Health Organisation (FAO/WHO) maximum permissible limit. The soil – plant transfer factor values of cadmium in tomatoes from two of the farms were higher than 1(TF>1), one farm had transfer factor of 1, this implied that there was soil –plant transfer of cadmium in the tomatoes that had TF greater than 1. While lead had soil – plant transfer values lower than 1(TF<1) in some of the vegetables, this implied that there was no soil - plant transfer of lead to these vegetables.
Keywords: Cadmium, lead, vegetables, transfer - factor.
Title: Investigating the Transfer of Metals to Carrots and Tomatoes from Soils of Old Mining Site of Jos Plateau, Nigeria
Author: DORCAS OLUYEMI JOSEPH, JOSEPH NDANUSA EGILA, SUNDAY JOHN SALAMI
International Journal of Life Sciences Research
ISSN 2348-313X (Print), ISSN 2348-3148 (online)
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