Department of Chemistry, Federal College of Education, Zaria, Nigeria; Department of Chemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Haliru, M., Department of Chemistry, Federal College of Education, Zaria, Nigeria; Ajibola, V.O., Department of Chemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria; Agbaji, E.B., Department of Chemistry, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
The uptake of some trace elements namely, chromium, nickel, cadmium and lead by some vegetables commonly irrigated were studied under glasshouse conditions. Experiments were conducted in plastic pots using some selected vegetables, lettuce (Lactuca sativa), okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) and pepper (Capsicum annum) grown on sandy loam soils treated with different concentrations of these metals. The treatments investigated include zero application (control), 10, 50 and 100 μg dm-3 metal applications. In general, each plant showed similar growth responses and tolerance but different metal uptake patterns in the same metal contaminated media for eight weeks. The enrichment factor of each metal in the different parts of the vegetables was highly varied. However, the fruits of pepper were more enriched with these metals than the okra fruits. Despite the concentration of metals used, the plants were still capable of controlling the metal uptake, no matter the concentration of metal solution applied to the soil. © 2009 Asian Network for Scientific Information.