Lead, Zinc and Nitrite Levels of Staple Crop Cultivars in Ameka and Abakaliki, Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The levels of Lead (Pb) and Zinc (Zn) were quantitatively determined in staple crop cultivars in Ameka using atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The survey was conducted to establish a base line pollution index for lead and zinc in Ameka environment and also to evaluate the role of foods as an exogenous source of these metals among the inhabitants. Crops harvested from the area were classified as cereals, tubers, leafy-vegetables, and fruits and analyzed. The recorded metallic mean values were Pb:0.03±0.01mg/g; 0.05±0.01mg/g; 0.17±0.03mg/g; 0.27±0.04mg/g and Zn: 0.38±0.05mg/g; 0.54±0.11mg/g; 0.80±0.21mg/g; 0.58±0.14mg/g respectively. Similarly, nitrite levels in vegetables and corn (maize) were determined spectrophotometrically in Abakaliki . The vegetables analyzed were spinach, garden egg leaf, bitter leaf, pumpkin and flutedpumpkin leaf, while corn (maize) included yellow-corn, white-corn and pop-corn. Nitrite levels showed a decline from bitter leaf > pumpkin > garden egg leaf > spinach >flutedpumpkin (P<0.05) with the highest and lowest concentrations of 4.92mg/g and 2.82mg/g found in bitter leaf and fluted-pumpkin, respectively. Yellow-corn and white-corn gave nitrite mean concentration of 3.52±0.30ppm and 2.80±1.50ppm, while 1.17±0.90ppm was obtained in pop-corn. Exceedingly low level of these metals characterized the staple crops. The concentration of lead in fruits and leafy-vegetables were below the 1ppm tolerable limit in plants.

Key words: Lead, Zinc, Nitrite, Crop Cultivars, Cereals, Tubers, Leafy vegetables and Fruits