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ABSTRACT
This experiment was conducted in the green house of the Department of Soil Science and Land Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Benin, Benin City. The aim of the study was to ascertain the heavy metal (Pb, Cd, Cr and As) contents of Amaranthus cruentus raised on soils from dumpsites from different land uses in the University of Benin. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with three replicates. Six different dumpsites were carefully selected in the Ugbowo campus of the University of Benin, three from learning centers and the other three from residential areas (students hostel). Soils collected from the dumpsites were filled into buckets and Amaranthus seeds were planted in them, and harvested at maturity. Soil and plant samples were taken to the laboratory to determine the physicochemical characteristics and heavy metal content present. Data obtained were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) while LSD was used to separate means at 5% level of probability. Results obtained shows that soils from the dumpsites belong to the textural class: sand. Their pH was moderately acidic and their TOC contents were 19.60 and 21.50 g/kg in the Learning center and Residential area respectively. The heavy metal studied were present in both soils, and there was no significant difference between the heavy metal content across the two dumpsites. The peak lead (Pb) content (1.30 mg/kg) was obtained in the learning center while the peak Cd, Cr, and As contents (0.037 mg/kg, 0.040 mg/kg and 0.040 mg/kg respectively) were recorded in the residential area. The contents of the heavy metals in the soil were below their standard permissible limits. Similarly, the highest Pb (0.083 mg/kg) content in plant (Amaranth) was found in learning center. Pb in Amaranthus cruentus from the learning center was above the permissible standard and is a potential health risk. While the other heavy metals (Cd, Cr and As) had their highest values in Amaranthus cruentus planted on soils from residential area. Their values (0.033 mg/kg, 0.017 mg/kg and 0.013 mg/kg) were below the standard permissible limit and did not pose any health risk.
