Effects of Waste Dump on the Quality of Plants Cultivated Around Mpape Dumpsite FCT Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper is aimed at investigating the uptake of heavy metals by plan, since these plants are being consumed directly by people. The study was conducted within a dumpsite located at Mpape in the Abuja Municipal Area Council, Federal Capital Territory Abuja. Metals are essential for maintaining human health throughout life. Intake of heavy metal contaminated vegetables may pose a risk to the human health. Plants take in minerals from soil media or air through their roots or foliage. Understanding the distribution of some trace metals in some common vegetables and tuber crops is important for establishing baseline concentrations from which anthropogenic effects can be measured. The trace metal distribution in some selected vegetables and tuber crop cultivated around Mpape Dumpsite were determine. All the parameters investigated were found present in the three plants species analysed. The concentrations of heavy metals in all the samples cultivated around the dumpsite were higher than those from the control site and they are also above the FEPA limit except Ion and Zinc in spinach that was within the limit. It is important to educate the farmers on the best farming practice and regular monitoring of heavy metal contamination should be encouraged in order to avoid possible consumption of contaminated vegetables.

Keywords: Waste dump, Heavy metals, Quality, up-take, Vegetables, Tuber crops