This study measured 22 elements, including gallium, in soils and vegetables from two Vienna community gardens one year after compost was added. Gallium in tomato fruit parts was below the quantification limit. Washing lettuce lowered gallium and several other elements that the authors treat as surface-bound.
Key numbers
- Tomato fruit skin, pulp, and seeds: gallium mass fraction below the quantification limit, with beryllium, iron, cobalt, nickel, silver, thallium, lead, and uranium (Results). Means and standard deviations of the replicates are in supplementary Table F1. The main text does not print a gallium number or the quantification limit.
- Lettuce, Paradeisgartl garden: washing significantly lowered beryllium, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, vanadium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, gallium, rubidium, silver, thallium, and uranium (Results; Figure 3; supplementary Table F2). The main text does not print the size of the gallium reduction.
Methods (brief)
Vegetable tissues were digested and analyzed by ICP-MS at Montanuniversität Leoben. Lead isotope ratios were measured by multicollector ICP-MS to trace lead, not gallium. Washed and unwashed lettuce leaves were compared.
Evidence fitness
Supports a tomato-fruit non-detect and a significant wash reduction of gallium on lettuce in these gardens. Does not support a dietary intake or a percent removal, because the numeric tissue values are in the supplement.
Limitations
Two gardens in one city. Radish and spinach were sampled in the same gardens. The main text does not print a gallium concentration for them.
Related evidence
Update history
No substantive edit history is available in this build. The full commit record is available in git.