Analysis of Concentration of Essential and Non-Essential Elements in Some Selected Fruits and Vegetable Samples from Various Farmlands in Jimma City

Abstract

Vegetables & fruits are the most common foods of human diet in all around the human kind which used for the maintenance of health, preventive & treatment of various diseases. They contain minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, antimetabolites, protein, carbohydrates & water. They are a major source of heavy metals, which contain both essential & toxic heavy metals over a wide range of concentrations. Metals can originate from natural sources or be present through anthropogenic contamination. They are major sources of heavy metals in the human diet which leads to acute & chronic health problems due to these vegetables & fruits. This study investigates the concentration of essential & non-essential elements in selected Fruits & vegetables samples various collected from farmlands & commercial market in jimma city. The given potential for heavy metal contamination due to sold the consumers; we analyzed samples of cabbage, potato, banana & orange for elements of concentrations such as: copper, Iron, cadmium & chromium was determined for selected heavy metals by using Atomic observation spectroscopy (AAS). The total samples are 4 kg composite samples for each type of fruit & vegetable was collected by simple random sampling from farmlands & commercial market in jimma city & subsamples are 1 kg by using digested via the wet digestion method. The experimental results of each fruits & vegetables, the mean concentration of essential & non-essential elements mg/L in fruits sample exhibited decreased tend in the order of banana (Cd: 3.097±0.8448) > (Fe: 0.662 ± 0.0259) > (Cr: 0.600± 0.2904)>(Cu: 0± 0) orange (Cd:1.292±0.07367)>(Cr: 0.967±0.141)>(Fe:0.7143±0.0254) >(Cu:0 ± 0) & the mean concentration of essential & non-essential elements (mg/L) in vegetables sample exhibited decreased tend in the order of potatoes:(Cd:1.514±0.2934)>(Cr:1.1557±0.8037)>(Fe:0.5877±0.0108)>(Cu:0±0),cabbage,(Cd:1.097±0 .5786)>(Cr:0.800±0.3325)>(Fe:0.6917±0.0058)>(Cu:0±0) slightly a significant difference was observed between the mean concentrations of all elements in fruits & vegetables. This indicates that the fruits & vegetables sample contain the higher level of some selected essential elements than non-essential elements in fruits & vegetables. The results were validated by accuracy, precession, MDL, ID, & MLQ. The percentage recoveries were ranged between 80.5-120%, indicating good accuracy & repeatability of the optimized procedure. Fruits & vegetable sample, & in the precision test, % RSD for selected essential & non-essential elements in fruits & vegetable sample was in the range between 2.4 to 10.43. For both fruits & vegetable samples in various farmlands of Jimma city. Therefore, the content of essential & non essential elements such as Cu, Cr, Cd and Fe in fruits & vegetables samples was below the permissible values of WHO/FAO.