Overview
Gupta and colleagues sampled soil and the edible parts of coriander, onion and tomato from farmers’ fields at seven sites along a national highway in Jhansi, and measured seven metals by flame AAS. They also report bio-concentration factors, daily intakes and hazard quotients. Concentrations are on a dry-weight basis.
Key numbers
- Coriander leaves (Table 2, mg/kg dry weight): cadmium 0.23 ± 0.07 (0.14 to 0.44), lead 2.12 ± 2.94 (0.71 to 12.52).
- Onion bulb (Table 2): cadmium 0.13 ± 0.08 (0.00 to 0.30), lead 0.66 ± 0.60 (0.19 to 2.21).
- Tomato fruit (Table 2): cadmium 0.14 ± 0.08 (0.02 to 0.35), lead 0.46 ± 0.50 (0.03 to 2.30).
Methods (brief)
Edible parts were dried at 75 °C, ground, digested in perchloric and nitric acid (1:3) and read on a Perkin-Elmer AAnalyst 400. Calibration curves and frequent blanks are described; no reference material or recovery is reported, and detection limits are mentioned but not printed.
Evidence Fitness
These are field samples from plots near a busy highway, not retail produce, so they may run higher than ordinary supply. The table gives N = 28 without saying how samples split across vegetables, and the sampling year is not stated. Coriander, onion and tomato bear directly on non-root vegetables.