The heavy metal load of plants grown on horti- and agriculturally utilized grounds in the conurbation of Berlin
1992
Schoenhard, G. (Biologische Bundesanstalt fuer Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Berlin (Germany). Abt. fuer Oekologische Chemie) | Laar, C. von
A program of investigating soil and plants from small and housegardens of West Berlin as also from agricultural land and horticulture was carried out during the years 1986 to 1988. Soil evaluated within the programme for the content of the heavy metals Pb, Cd, V, Cr, Co, Ni and Zn (Schoenhard und Laar 1990) showed overcrowded areas to be necessarily contaminated. Heavy metal content of plants grown on the same sites as of the soil studied is summarized in the present paper. A total of 19415 plants were investigated with 17918 from small and housegardens, 1973 from agricultural areas and 244 from horticultures. Tomato, celery and green cabbage representative of fruit, tubers and leaf vegetable respectively from small and housegardens investigated as indicator plants showed that fruits and tubers were less contaminated than leafy vegetables excepting the element Cadmium in celery, which varies with the Cd-content of the soil: from soil with low upto medium Cd-content the tubers contain more Cd than leaves, being the reverse for celery from soil of higher Cd-content. Tomato fruits showed the lowest heavy metal content, whereas tomato leaves accumulate specially Pb and Cd and are the most contaminated. For this reason tomato leaves may be used to estimate the hazard potential of heavy-metal load of soils. Applying the ZEBS target concentration of Pb and Cd to tomato fruits, celery tubers/leaves, and green cabbage, celery tubers and leaves superceded it most frequently, followed by green cabbage. Cereals, vegetables and forage plants studied for the agricultural sector showed that winter rye and summer barley contained almost all of the elements in order of grain over spike over straw
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