Abstract
Heavy metal contamination of vegetables is a great public health concern. Hence this study investigates concentration of heavy metals in leafy vegetables and soil from irrigation farming sites in New-Bussa and its environment, Niger State Nigeria. Concentrations of the following heavy metals; Pb, Cr, Zn, Cu and Cd were determine in Amaranthus cruentus, Corchorus aestuans and soil from the study area. Freshly harvested Amaranthus cruentus and Corchorus aestuans were collected from three farmlands. Analysis for heavy metals was carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. The mean heavy metals concentrations in soil samples collected at different farmlands in the study area showed the presence of all heavy metals tested (Pb, Cr, Zn, Cu and Cd) at varying concentrations (p<0.05) across the sampling stations. Zn was highly concentrated at the three farmlands with highest concentration at farm B (7.90 ± 0.00 mg/kg-1 ), followed by Cr which recorded the highest concentration at farmland C with a mean of 1.90±0.00 mg/kg-1 . Pb recorded the highest concentration at farmland B with a mean of 0.40±0.07 mg/kg-1while the least concentration was recorded at farmland C with a mean of 0.10±0.00mg/kg-1 . Cd recorded the lowest heavy metal concentration among the metals tested with the least concentration at farmland C with a mean of 0.02±0.04mg·kg-1 . Average mean concentrations of 4.22 mg·kg-1 , 1.40 mg·kg-1 , 0.27 mg·kg-1 , 0.13 mg·kg-1 and 0.005 mg·kg-1 were recorded for Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Cd respectively in the soil.