Tin Levels in Perennial and Annual Green Leafy Vegetables

ABSTRACT

Industrial processes, mining, weathering, and erosion release tin into the environment, which can be absorbed by vegetables. The research was undertaken to determine levels of tin in the perennial and annual vegetables: Allium ampeloprasum L, A. wakegi L, Artemisia dracunculus L, Coriandrum sativum L, Lepidium sativum L, Mentha arvensis L, Petroselinum crispum Nyman Consp, Raphanus sativus L, Spinacia oleracea L, and Trigonella foenum-graecum L and irrigation water and soil. Plant tissue, water, and soil samples were gathered from agricultural sites of Markazi Province, Iran. The highest tin levels were in T. foenum-graecum (454.110 ± 208.24 µg·kg⁻¹) and S. oleracea (346.54 ± 156.14 µg·kg⁻¹). Levels of tin in perennial and annual plants averaged 413.874 and 395.442 µg·kg⁻¹, respectively, which were statistically similar. Mean concentration of tin in soil was 50.9205 ± 4.31 µg·kg⁻¹ and the mean concentration in water was 49.90 ± 0.4025 µg·kg⁻¹, which were low. There were no differences in amounts of tin in the vegetables. Tin can accumulate in green leaves but all vegetables had levels of tin in edible parts of plants that were below the maximum acceptable limit for human consumption (<1 µg·g⁻¹).

KEYWORDS:

• Heavy metal
• plant
• safe limit
• soil

Acknowledgment

This article was extracted from the PhD dissertation of Bahareh Ghasemidehkordi. The authors thank the workers of the laboratory manager, Tehran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.