In Nigerian urban and suburban areas, the practice of using dumpsites as agricultural land is widespread, due to the fact that decomposed and composted wastes improve soil fertility. The presence of heavy metals in these dumpsites poses serious health risks to humans. The purpose of this study is to compare the concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Cu, and Zn) in Amaranthus hybridus leaves grown on soil obtained from three distinct dumpsites in Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria. It also looks at the possible health risks associated with eating Amaranthus hybridus. After a period of four (4) weeks after planting, plant samples were selected at random, prepared, and examined using an Atomic Adsorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) Buck Scientific VG990 Model to detect the heavy metal. The following is a breakdown of the different heavy metal content found in the leaves of Amaranthus hybridus cultivated on the different landfill soils, Zn: Anyigba Market (0.4540 mg/kg) > Redeem (0.4286 mg/kg) > Anokwu1 (0.3520 mg/kg) > Control (0.281 mg/kg); Cu: Redeem (0.1640 mg/kg) > Anokwo1 (0.1287 mg/kg) > Anyigba Market (0.0947 mg/kg), and Control (0.0467 mg/kg); Pb: Anokwu1 (0.1820 mg/kg) > Anyigba Market (0.0960 mg/kg) > Redeem (0.0580 mg/kg) > Control (0.0267 mg/kg). Every element that was examined for samples taken from dumpsites had levels that were greater than those of the control. There are potential health hazards associated with the ingestion of Amaranthus hybridus grown on soil obtained from these dumpsites, and this is due to the fact that its hazard quotient for Zn, Cu, and Pb, as well as its hazard indices, exceed unity (1). Strict regulations prohibiting the cultivation of food crops on dump site soils, should be enforced by the government and local authorities, to prevent the accumulation of toxic heavy metals in edible plants.
Edogbanya et al. (Wed,) studied this question.