Mitigation of Arsenic Concentration in Green Leafy Vegetables viz. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) through Different Biochemical Washing Techniques

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out for “Mitigation of Arsenic concentration in green leafy vegetables viz. Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata), Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) and Cauliflower (Brassica oleracea var. botrytis) through different biochemical washing techniques”. The agrarian farmers of Nathnagar block in Bhagalpur district of Bihar mostly cultivate vegetables such as cabbage, spinach, cauliflower etc. The farmers irrigate their farm by the polluted water of Champa-nala (main source of irrigation) which contain huge amount of highly health hazardous waste. The farmers are unaware of the harmful effect of the polluted water that they are using for irrigating vegetables, they feel happy to get the water free of cost for irrigating their crops. The morphology of crop which is irrigated with polluted water seems likely to the crop irrigated with clean water. At maturity, farmers harvest their crops and sell them in their local market which becomes the constituent of our food chain. The results revealed that in cabbage leaf, the maximum concentration of arsenic observed in unwashed samples (T1) was 427.69 ppb, the distance of 50 m away from the contaminated site. The maximum reduction percentage was 27.30% with a mean value of 13.76% observed after employing the treatments T6 (washed with 8% ginger solution). In spinach the maximum concentration of arsenic observed in unwashed samples (T1) was 351.00 ppb, the distance of 50 m away from the contaminated site. The maximum reduction percentage of 30.20% with a mean value of 16.93% of arsenic was observed after employing the treatments T6 (washed with 8% ginger solution) whereas in cauliflower the maximum concentration of arsenic observed in unwashed samples (T1) was 469.06 ppb, the distance of 50 m away from the contaminated site. The maximum reduction of 29.93% with a mean value of 15.37% was observed after employing the treatment T6 (washed with 8% ginger solution). However, the concentrations of Arsenic was higher in unwashed leaves of the vegetables grown in the industrial areas which indicates that industrial discharge causes heavy contamination of soil and eventually their accumulation in plants.