Heavy metal accumulation in Celery from Sarchnar and Kalar in Kurdistan of Iraq Region

Volume 18 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , Pages 29-36

Authors

¹ Soil and water science Department, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region –Iraq

Heavy metals pose risk to human health. The present study was carried out to

assess levels of different heavy metals like lead, Copper, Chromium, Nickel and

Iron, in celery irrigated with water from different sources. The results indicated a

substantial build-up of heavy metals in vegetable irrigated with wastewater. The

range of various metals in surface water mixed with wastewater-irrigated plants

was 0.0005, 0.0003, 0.0086, 0.0006, 0.2106 mg/L for Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni and Fe

respectively, in sarchnar location, and lowest value of these metals was determined

in well water used for irrigation in kalar location and values are (0.0002, 0.0014,

0.0171, 0.0004 and 0.0020 mg/L) for Pb, Cu, Cr , Ni and Fe respectively. The

highest levels of Fe detected in celery value 5.181and 3.983 mg/kg in Sarchnar and

Kalar location, respectively. The present study highlights that both adults and

children consuming vegetables grown in wastewater-irrigated soils ingest

signiﬁcant amount of these metals. However, the values of these metals were below

the recommended maximum tolerable levels. The regular monitoring of levels of

these metals from efﬂuents and sewage, in vegetables and in other food materials is

essential to prevent excessive build-up of these metals in the food chain.

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