Appraisal of probabilistic levels of toxic metals and health risk in cultivated and marketed vegetables in urban and peri-urban areas of Delhi, India.

ABSTRACT

A total of six vegetables (S. tuberosum, D. carota, S. lycopersicum, A. esculentus, S. oleracea and B. juncea) were analysed for five heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb) to evaluate the contamination load in vegetables collected from five cultivated and two market sites (n = 504) at Delhi, India. The irrigation water samples and soil samples (n = 180) were only collected from cultivated sites. The results showed that the concentration of heavy metals in soil and water samples were well below the permissible level except for Cd 0.001-0.013 µg g-1. Similarly, the concentration of Cd (>0.20 µg g-1) was detected higher in all investigated vegetables except for tomato. The evaluation index value was highest for spinach and lowest for tomato. The transfer factor values and metal pollution index was maximum in spinach and okra. Principal component analysis (PCA), Tukey's HSD (Honestly Significant Difference) test, and one-way and two-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) were also applied to statistically analyse the results.