Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Lycopersicon Esculentum Grown with Tannery Sludge across Some Selected Farmlands in Dawakin Kudu LGA of Kano State, Nigeria (original) (raw)

Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metals in Lycopersicon Esculentum Grown with Tannery Sludge across Some Selected Farmlands in Dawakin Kudu LGA of Kano State, Nigeria

Human health has been adversely exposed to many inauspicious threats due to human activities. Evidently, ecotoxicological studies documented that industrial and agricultural wastes tremendously contribute to the contemporary environmental pollution and subsequent associated health issues. Meanwhile, the application of tannery sludge as fertilizer has been recently reported in Dawakin Kudu LGA of Kano State, Nigeria and this sludge was suspected to have contained a large quantity of toxic metals. This study was aimed to investigate the presence of toxic metals including Cd, Cr and Pb in the fruits of Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) grown with tannery sludge in the selected farms in the study area in order to ascertain their suitability for human consumption. The toxic metals (Cr, Cd and Pb) were found to be incorporated into the tissue of tomato's fruits and were all above the permissible limits of WHO/FAO except for the Cr in sampling location 1 and 2, and Pb in location 2. The study also demonstrated that pH of the soil influence the rate of uptake of heavy metals into tomato cells. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) at p < 0.05 revealed that there is no significant difference in the concentration of heavy metals between and within groups while pollution index for metals like Cd has indicated a potential pollution. It was recommended that leather industries should dispose wastes far from residential areas and out of reach of farmers while coming up with tertiary methods of sludge treatment before disposal.