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Assessment of Edaphic pollution indices and bioaccumulation of trace metals in Solanum lycopersicum, Spinacia oleracea and Triticum aestivum: an associated health risk evaluation

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Abstract

The present study investigates bioaccumulation factor (Bfc), Edaphic pollution indices and associated health risk assessment of trace metals (TMs) i.e., Cu, Fe, Zn, Mn and Co in the crops, agricultural soil (AgS), and irrigation water (IgW) collected from various peri-urban area of metropolitan city of India, Lucknow. Though the level of these TMs was within the permissible limits (PL) (FAO/WHO, 2011) in AgS and IgW however it was higher than PL in tomato, spinach and wheat cultivated in the fields. The bioaccumulation factor of Cu, Fe and Mn in edible parts of tomato, spinach and wheat was 8 to 25 times higher through the AgS and 10 to 300 times higher through the IgW in the tomato, spinach and wheat samples. The enrichment factor (Efc), contamination factor (Cfc), contamination degree (Cdg) and modified contamination degree (mCdg) values of Co, Cu, Mn, Fe and Zn ranged from low to high levels of contamination, whereas the geo-accumulation index reflected low contamination in agricultural soil. on the other hand, the metal pollution load index (Mpi) was found strongly contaminated in most of the study areas. Due to the consumption of these contaminated vegetables and cereal (VCs) by human consumers, the hazard quotient (HQ), total hazard quotient (THQ) and hazard index (HI) were found to be more than the requisite value of 1, which indicates a far-long health risk in this crowded city and its surrounding regions.

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Acknowledgement

PK is grateful to University Grants Commission (UGC) for financial support in the form of the National Fellowship for Schedule Caste Candidates 2017-18 (NFSC 2017-18).

Funding

This research was funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the form of the National Fellowship for Schedule Caste Candidates 2017-18 (NFSC 2017-18).

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  1. Department of Environmental Science, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (A Central) University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, U.P-226025, Lucknow, India

    Pradeep Kumar & Rana Pratap Singh

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Pradeep Kumar: Investigation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Validation, Data curation, Writing - original draft. Rana Pratap Singh: Project administration, Supervision, Writing - review & editing, Resources.

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Correspondence to Rana Pratap Singh.

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Highlights

• In crop samples, TMs levels were shockingly higher than the permissible limits.

• A significant source of TMs in vegetables and cereal appears to be irrigation water.

• The values of soil pollution indices were moderate, indicating mild agro-ecosystem impacts.

• Although the DI of TMs was below MTDI, the HQ and HI show massive effects on consumer.

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Kumar, P., Singh, R.P. Assessment of Edaphic pollution indices and bioaccumulation of trace metals in Solanum lycopersicum, Spinacia oleracea and Triticum aestivum: an associated health risk evaluation. Environ Monit Assess 195, 588 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11170-4

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