Heavy metals in onion (Allium cepa L.) and environmental and health risks

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to determine heavy metal content in soil and selected cultivars of onion. Cd content in soil exceeded the limit 2.43 times. Bioavailable forms of Pb and Cd in soil exceeded the critical value 5.9 times and 1.9 times, respectively. Analysed cultivars were not bioaccumulators of monitored heavy metals. However, Pb and Cd content in cultivars Nanas F1, Kappa and Daytona F1 exceeded the maximum limit set by the EU regulation. For Pb this was also the case for the Spirith cultivar. Based on health risk assessment it could be concluded that moderate consumption of onions from the studied localities does not pose a risk to consumers.

KEYWORDS:

• Allium cepa L
• onion
• heavy metals
• lead
• cadmium

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Credit author statement

Conceptualization, N.Č. and J.L.; Methodology, J.L. and A.B; Software, M.Š. and N.Č; Validation, A.B. and J.M.; Formal Analysis, M.Š.; Investigation, Ľ.H; Resources, E.P.; Data Curation, M.Š.; Writing – Original Draft Preparation, N.Č.; Writing – Review & Editing, M.B.; Visualization, N.Č.; Supervision, A.V.; Project Administration, J.M.; Funding Acquisition, A.V.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the scientific grant [APVV-22-0255].