Abstract:
Environmental pollution, especially soil contamination from anthropogenic activities tend to affect our health
through the food chain. A laboratory scale pot experiment was conducted in this study to evaluate the metal uptake
capacity of vegetable crop, Spinacia oleracea L. (African spinach) grown in Karu L.G.A of Nasarawa state. A
composite sample derived from several sampling points was separated in eight (8) pots, treated with lead (Pb)
and Nickel (Ni) concentrations and studied. Mean concentration levels of both lead (Pb) and nickel (Ni) indicated
significantly higher concentrations of both metals were obtained in the roots of harvested crops compared to the
stems and leaves and was confirmed by the hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA). The observed environmental
pollution of the agricultural soil in the study area does not sufficiently concentrate in the edible parts (stems and
leaves) of the crop.
