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Assessment of crop-specific heavy metal transfer and dietary exposure in fertilized tropical smallholder soils in Kaduna State Nigeria.

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Τίτλος: Assessment of crop-specific heavy metal transfer and dietary exposure in fertilized tropical smallholder soils in Kaduna State Nigeria.
Συγγραφείς: Olowomofe OG; Federal University, Oye Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria. olawale.olowomofe@fuoye.edu.ng., Faweya BE; Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, Nigeria.
Πηγή: Environmental geochemistry and health [Environ Geochem Health] 2026 Oct 05; Vol. 48 (15). Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Oct 05.
Τύπος έκδοσης: Journal Article
Γλώσσα: English
Στοιχεία περιοδικού: Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers Country of Publication: Netherlands NLM ID: 8903118 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1573-2983 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 02694042 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Environ Geochem Health Subsets: MEDLINE
Imprint Name(s): Publication: 1999- : Dordrecht : Kluwer Academic Publishers
Original Publication: Kew, Surrey : Science and Technology Letters, 1985-
Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): Metals, Heavy*/analysis , Metals, Heavy*/metabolism , Soil Pollutants*/analysis , Soil Pollutants*/metabolism , Crops, Agricultural*/chemistry , Crops, Agricultural*/metabolism , Dietary Exposure*/analysis , Fertilizers*/analysis , Food Contamination*/analysis, Zea mays/chemistry ; Manihot/chemistry ; Soil/chemistry ; Abelmoschus/chemistry ; Nigeria ; Environmental Monitoring ; Humans ; Tropical Climate ; Risk Assessment
Περίληψη: Fertilizer-associated heavy metals may accumulate in edible crops, yet crop-specific transfer and dietary risks remain poorly characterized in tropical smallholder systems. This study quantified Pb, Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd and Ni in paired soil and edible tissues of okra, maize and cassava from fertilized farms across five locations in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Thirty paired samples were analysed by Flame AAS, and transfer factors, multivariate statistics and dietary risk indices were used to assess metal distribution, uptake and potential exposure. Mean soil concentrations were 20.54, 42.95, 3350.00, 116.47, 0.141 and 38.41 mg kg-1 for Pb, Cu, Fe, Zn, Cd and Ni, respectively, compared with 0.650, 15.83, 908.57, 50.07, 0.014 and 0.174 mg kg-1 in edible tissues. Maize showed greater Pb accumulation than cassava and okra, although Pb transfer remained low across all crops. Dietary screening yielded a THQ of 2.98 for maize, exceeding the non-carcinogenic screening threshold of 1 and driven mainly by Cu and Pb, while the combined Pb + Cd carcinogenic risk was highest in maize (3.17 × 10-5). Cassava also slightly exceeded the THQ threshold (1.07), whereas okra remained well below it (0.011). Overall, the findings identify maize and cassava as priority crops for continued monitoring of Cu and Pb in agricultural fields subject to routine fertilizer use.
(© 2026. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)
Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interests: The authors declare that they have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. Ethical approval: Not applicable. This study did not involve human participants, human data, human tissue, or animals. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. AI Declaration: During the preparation of this manuscript, the authors used ChatGPT to assist with language editing, sentence refinement, and improvement of readability. After using this tool, the authors carefully reviewed and edited the content as needed and take full responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.
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Contributed Indexing: Keywords: Cassava; Fertilized soil; Heavy metals; Ingestion risk; Maize; Okra; Soil–crop transfer
Substance Nomenclature: 0 (Metals, Heavy)
0 (Soil Pollutants)
0 (Fertilizers)
0 (Soil)
Entry Date(s): Date Created: 20261005 Date Completed: 20261005 Latest Revision: 20261005
Update Code: 20261006
DOI: 10.1007/s10653-026-03521-0
PMID: 42832094
Βάση Δεδομένων: MEDLINE
Περιγραφή
ISSN:1573-2983
DOI:10.1007/s10653-026-03521-0