Accumulation of toxic metals in vegetable crops and associated

Overview

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Key numbers

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Saquib Ali1 · Rajesh Ahirwar1,2
mental sustainability, food security, and public health (1). Rapid industrialization, mining activities, urbanization, and
the intensification of agriculture have led to a steady accumulation of toxic metals in the environment (2). These metals,
about the safety of food crops, especially vegetables, which are consumed frequently and in large quantities (3–5).
- Rajesh Ahirwar, r.ahirwar.nireh@gov.in | 1Department of Environmental Biochemistry, ICMR-National Institute for Research
in Environmental Health (NIREH), Bhopal 462030, India. 2Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad 201002, India.
prone to absorbing and accumulating heavy metals from contaminated soils and water (6). This is particularly true in
middle-income countries due to freshwater scarcity (7). In such contexts, the risk of toxic metal accumulation in edible
amounts, which often ranges 10–15 ppm for plant metabolic functions (8), others such as Cd, Pb, and Hg have no known
beneficial role and are toxic even at low concentrations (9). These harmful metals can disrupt plant cellular metabolism,
damage organelles, and impair photosynthesis, ultimately reducing crop yield and quality (9). Moreover, some plant
pose a serious risk to human health, in amounts ranging 100–1000 times greater than those taken up by “nonaccumula-
tor” plants (10). Once incorporated into edible tissues such as leaves, tubers, fruits, or seeds, these metals may enter the
zation (WHO) (11). For example, elevated levels of Cd and Pb have been reported in spinach, lettuce, potatoes, and root
vegetables irrigated with wastewater or grown in contaminated soils (12–14). These findings have serious implications
cal disorders, renal failure, immune suppression, and various forms of cancer (15, 16).
2 Metals and plant health
range of physiological and biochemical processes including enzyme activity, redox balance, and energy metabolism (8).
Of the 17 essential elements required for healthy plant growth (17), macronutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus
factors like pH and microbial activity, but plants absorb them only in specific ionic or molecular forms. Table 1 presents
(20, 21). Iron and manganese are central to chlorophyll synthesis and photosynthetic electron transport (22, 23). Zinc
and potassium regulate enzyme activation, carbohydrate metabolism, and disease resistance (24). Calcium contributes
Table 1 Essential nutrient Nutrient elements Symbol Primary form
primary bioavailable forms Primary macronutrients N NH4+, NO3−
Secondary macronutrients Ca Ca2+
Micronutrients Fe Fe3+, Fe2+
be absorbed through phosphate channels (26, 27). Once inside, these metals may be translocated to above-ground tis-
3 Sources of heavy metals in plants and agricultural produce
accumulation in edible plant tissues and posing significant food safety concerns (1). While the lithogenic contributions
3.1 Lithogenic sources
for 99% of its elemental content. The remaining elements, including many trace metals and metalloids, exist in minute
limestone, and metalliferous ores are particularly enriched with heavy metals such as Ni, Cd, Pb, and As (28, 29).
containing heavy metals and metalloids are shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Representative ore Element Ore mineral(s) Composition Associated metals
metals and metalloids and Pb Galena, cerussite, anglesite PbS, PbCO3, PbSO4 Zn, Ag, Cd, Cu
As Arsenopyrite, realgar, orpiment FeAsS, As4S4, As2S3 Au, Cu, Pb, Sb
Cr Chromite FeCr4O4 Fe, Ni, V
Ni Pentlandite, garnierite (Fe,Ni)9S8, (Ni,Mg)6Si4O10(OH)8 Cu, Co, Fe
Cu Chalcopyrite, bornite, malachite, azurite CuFeS2, Cu5FeS4, Cu2CO3(OH)2, Zn, Pb, Ag, As, Cd
Sb Stibnite Sb2S3 As, Hg, Pb
Te Calaverite, sylvanite AuTe2, (Au,Ag)Te2 Au, Ag, Cu
ous elements such as As and Hg into soils via atmospheric deposition (30). Although these natural sources are part

Methods (brief)

pared for metal analysis. The samples are dried, ground into a fine powder, and subjected to acid digestion protocols,
Quantification is then carried out using analytical techniques such as atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), inductively
coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), or mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) are then used to quantify metal
(MMAV) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAV), within liver cells and is subsequently excreted in urine, along with a small quan-
acid (MMAIII) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMAIII), are particularly reactive and have been demonstrated to inhibit key
1. Cherfi A, Cherfi M, Maache-Rezzoug Z, Rezzoug S-A. Risk assessment of heavy metals via consumption of vegetables collected from

Implications

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Verification notes

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Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git. When DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Commit	Date	Change	Description
3171d06	2026-08-02	major	1 section added
bc84bfc	2026-08-02	major	6 sections added; narrative text revised