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Urban Market Gardening in Africa: Foliar Uptake of Metal(loid)s and Their Bioaccessibility in Vegetables; Implications in Terms of Health Risks

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Abstract

Urban market gardening in Africa is suffering from increasing environmental contamination due to sources of contamination as varied as traffic, industry, and agriculture practices. A field study was therefore conducted to determine the global influence of the polluted environment (atmosphere, soil, and irrigation waters) on vegetable quality in a large urban-farming area. For leafy vegetables collected in 15 ha of squatted land belonging to the international airport of Cotonou, total concentrations of metal(loid)s measured in consumed parts of Lactuca sativa L. and Brassica oleracea were 52.6–78.9, 0.02–0.3, 0.08–0.22, 12.7–20.3, 1.8–7.9, and 44.1–107.8 mg kg−1 for Pb, Cd, As, Sb, Cu, and Zn, respectively. Human gastric bioaccessibility of the metal(loid)s was measured, and the obtained values varied according to the considered metal(loid) and the plant species. The results identified values that are commonly found in non-polluted soils and roots associated with contaminated edible parts, raising the possibility of atmospheric contamination. Such a hypothesis is in agreement with values of magnetic susceptibility, since iron oxides and probably their associated metal(loid)s do not translocate from the roots toward the upper parts of the plants. (Bioaccessible) estimated dose intake ((B)EDI) and total (bioaccessible) target hazard quotient (Σ(B)THQ) were calculated to assess the health risk of consuming vegetables from this area. Pb and Sb were the major risk contributors. Taking the bioaccessible fractions into account, ΣBTHQ values were lower than ΣTHQ but were all still >1 for both males and females, leading to the conclusion that consuming these vegetables from this area is not risk-free.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire d’aérologie, UMR 5560 CNRS/UPS, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Gaëlle Uzu

  2. Géosciences Environnement Toulouse (GET), UMR 5563 CNRS/UPS/IRD/CNES, 14 avenue Edouard Belin, 31400, Toulouse, France

    Gaëlle Uzu, Eva Schreck & Mélina Macouin

  3. Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, LTHE, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Gaëlle Uzu

  4. Université de Toulouse, INP-ENSAT, Avenue de l’Agrobiopôle, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France

    Tiantian Xiong, Thibaut Lévêque & Camille Dumat

  5. UMR 5245 CNRS-INP-UPS, EcoLab (Laboratoire d’écologie fonctionnelle), Avenue de l’Agrobiopôle, BP 32607, 31326, Castanet-Tolosan, France

    Tiantian Xiong & Thibaut Lévêque

  6. Unité d’enseignement et de recherche en Santé au Travail et Environnement, Faculté des sciences de la santé, Université d’Abomey-Calavi, Cotonou, Bénin

    Benjamin Fayomi

  7. Université de Toulouse, UTM-CERTOP CNRS UMR 5044, Université Toulouse-Le Mirail, Toulouse, France

    Camille Dumat

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  1. Gaëlle Uzu
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  2. Eva Schreck
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  3. Tiantian Xiong
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  4. Mélina Macouin
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Uzu, G., Schreck, E., Xiong, T. et al. Urban Market Gardening in Africa: Foliar Uptake of Metal(loid)s and Their Bioaccessibility in Vegetables; Implications in Terms of Health Risks. Water Air Soil Pollut 225, 2185 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-014-2185-5

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