ACCUMULATION OF HEAVY METALS IN APPLES AND PEARS FROM THE SUBURBS OF MITROVICA, KOSOVO
Vehbi ZENELI, Ganimete HETA, Valentina PAVLOVA, Gorica PAVLOVSKA
Abstract
Intake of heavy metals through the food is a food safety problem that seriously affects consumer health. Therefore, information is needed on the intake of food contaminated with heavy metals and their concentrations, to assess the potential risk for human health. This paper aims to determine the accumulation of metals in apples and pears grown in the surroundings of Kosovska Mitrovica (Republic of Kosovo) and the bioconcentration factor (BF).
With the help of the ICP-MS technique, were determined the amounts of Cu, Fe, Co, Mn, Ni, and Cr in apples and pears grown in three regions - Zvečan , Frashër, and Polski.
From the conducted tests, the highest concentrations in apples and pears were determined for iron (on average 100.67 mg/kg for apples and 107.4 mg/kg for pears) and the lowest concentrations for cobalt (on average 0.13 mg/kg for apples and 0.18 mg/kg for pears). The lowest bioconcentration factor in apples is 0.01 (for Fe, Co, and Mn in all three regions), and the highest is 0.32 (for Cr in Zvečan). When determining the bioconcentration factor in pears, the lowest (0.01) was determined for iron (in all three regions) and manganese (in Zvečan and Frashër regions), and the highest bioconcentration factor was determined for copper – 0.46 (Polski region). There is a very high correlation between the values obtained for the analyzed metals in apples and pears.
According to BF values, pears extract twice as much Cu and Co from the soil compared to apples, and the extraction of other metals from the soil is the same for both types of fruit.
Pages:
144 - 151