Bioaccumulation of Heavy Metal in Brassica oleracea Effects on Human Health

Industrial waste waters containing a number of heavy metals find their way into the effluents. The use of sewage sludge and waste water for irrigation further increase the concentration of heavy metals in agriculture crops. Agricultural runoff together with soil erosion is the potential source of heavy metals in vegetable bodies .Disposal of industrial as well as domestic sewage sludges and domestic waste on land is a common practice. One of the major problems with land disposal of sludge is the likely introduction of heavy metals into the soil. Vegetable growers in East kolkata predominantly use water from jheels and fishponds to meet their irrigation requirements. Generally, sludge solutions appear to increase the mobility of elements in soil. Vegetable farming in the EKW is centred on Dhapa with estimates suggesting 320 ha of land under cultivation producing as much as 370 t ha-1 y-1. Several crops are cultivated in a year and inter-cropping of several varieties is common practice. Intensive cropping is possible due to widespread irrigation, much of which involves wastewater use .Accumulation of heavy metal (Pb, Cd Cr,H,gNi)in cauliflwer which are cultivated by using sewage sludge.