Results of ecological monitoring of citrus fruits grown in the coastal subtropical zone of Ajara.

Considering the present-day ecology of the environment the quality indicators of agricultural products from various agrocenoses should be given particular attention and harmful effects of environmental pollutants on vegetable food products should be identified. Heavy metals are highly toxic, and their high concentrations in living organisms, soil, fruit trees, vegetables, and greens harm the chemical and physical properties of the organism. The object of the study was the fruits of lemon, mandarin and orange trees growing in the coastal subtropical zone of Ajara, namely, the citrus plantations in Akhalsopeli, Gonio, and Makhvilauri (Khelvachauri Municipality), as well as the citrus fruits (citron (Citrus medica L.), kumquat (Fortunella japonica Sw.) and pomelo (Citrus grandis L.)) from the collection plot in Batumi Botanical Garden. Concentrations of different microelements (lead, zinc, iron, aluminum, copper, and cadmium) were measured in them. The concentrations of microelements in the test fruits were identified by the analytical method of atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), which commonly uses element light absorption to measure the element concentration in a sample. The analysis of the sample aims to determine whether a sample contains particular element. As the obtained results show the content of heavy metals in citrus fruits citron (Citrus medica L.), kumquat (Fortunella japonica Sw.) and pomelo (Citrus grandis L.) sampled from the collection plot in the Botanical Garden is within the admissible limits. The contents of heavy metals in lemon (Citrus limon L.), orange (Citrus sinensis L.), and satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu Marcow) sampled from Khelvachauri Municipality (villages Makhvilauri, Akhalsopeli and Gonio) were higher than those in the samples from the collection plot of the Batumi Botanical Garden, but were still within the admissible limits. Fig. 2, Ref. 10.