Arsenic Incorporation into Garden Vegetables Irrigated with Contaminated Water

Daily vegetable requirement are mostly fulfilled in Bangladesh through homestead garden production which are usually irrigated with arsenic-rich underground water. Garden vegetables grown in arsenic-tainted soil may uptake and accumulate significant amount of arsenic in their tissue. Mean, minimum and maximum arsenic content in some common garden vegetables, e.g. bean, bitter gourd, bottle gourd, brinjal, chilli, green papaya, mint, okra, palwal, potato, red amaranth, string bean and sweet gourd, from an arsenicprone locality of Bangladesh have been assessed. The contribution of vegetable-arsenic in the daily diet was estimated. Correlation with the groundwater arsenic status and statistical significance of variations has been discussed.