INORGANIC POLLUTANTS IN VEGETABLES OBTAINED FROM SELECTED FARMLANDS IN MILLENNIUM CITY AND UNGUWAN KUDU OF KADUNA STATE

Abstract

Inorganic pollutants are substances that are mostly of mineral origin, with metals and salts that exist naturally in the environment but have been altered by human anthropogenic activities thereby increasing their numbers, pervading the environment and becoming toxic due to accumulation in food chain. This research studied the determination and comparison of the levels of inorganic pollutants in vegetables obtained from selected farmlands in Millennium City and Unguwan Kudu, Kaduna State. 16 composite vegetable samples (lettuce and spinach) were collected twice between August and December, transported to the laboratory and prepared for determination of inorganic pollutants. The levels of inorganic pollutants were determined and compared with acceptable international standards (NSDWQ and WHO). The inorganic pollutants in vegetables (Spinach and Lettuce) were found to be higher in NO (23.15±0.05) mg /kg and the least was observed in Hg (0.003±0.00) in 3 spinach of U/Kudu and MC respectively also negative value was obtained in Pb. Each inorganic pollutants were observed to be significantly different across the sampling sites except in some cases. Heavy metals such as Cu in study sites could be due to electric wiring, plumbing materials, adornments, coins and composites that are present in the environment. When compared with the permissible limit of NSDWQ and WHO, some of the inorganic pollutants in vegetables were above the permissible limit, while others were observed to be within the permissible limit and the inorganic elements in lettuce were generally found to be more than that in spinach for the months of August and December from U/Kudu and MC respectively.