Abstract:
Heavy metals can affect the vegetables and can accumulate in vegetables and thereby indirectly can affect human
health. Due to various factors including the disposal of municipal and industrial wastes, application of fertilizers,
atmospheric deposition and discharge of wastewater on land, has resulted in increase in the concentration of heavy
metals in the soil. Soil normally contains a low concentration of heavy metals such as copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), which
are the essential micronutrients for the optimum growth of the plants. Heavy metals like cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb)
are usually not found in agricultural soil and are toxic to plants. The paper presents a case study achieved in Copsa
Mica. As a result of a historical pollution (over 60 years) and a present pollution, the Copsa Mica area is an affected
area by atmospheric pollution, characterized by inadequate ambient air quality, surface water pollution, soil pollution,
qualitative degradation of vegetable products and possible risk to the health of animals and people in the area. There
were sampled carrots roots from 51 households. Obtained data were used to estimate the bioaccumulation of some
heavy metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) in carrot roots. The highest correlations between soil and plant total metal content
were obtained for cadmium and lead. It is noted the increased tendency of accumulation of cadmium (r=0.761) in carrot
roots compared to lead (r=0.660). In the case of copper and zinc, the correlation established between the two variables
is not very strong, thus for zinc r=0.439, while for copper the value was obtained r=0.151.
