Impact of atmospheric deposition of As, Cd and Pb on their concentration in carrot and celeriac

Root crops, carrot and celeriac, were exposed to atmospheric deposition in a polluted versus reference area. An effect was observed on the As, Cd and Pb concentrations of the leaves and the storage organs. The concentrations in the whole storage organs correlated well with atmospheric deposition, which shows that they even could be used for biomonitoring. Nevertheless, leaves remain much more appropriate. The results revealed also a significant increase of the As and Cd concentration in the consumable part of the storage organs as a function of their atmospheric deposition. As such the experiments allowed deriving regression equations, useful for modeling the atmospheric impact of trace elements on the edible parts of root crops. For Pb, however, there was hardly any significant impact on the inner parts of the storage organs and as such the transfer of Pb in the food chain through root crops can be considered to be negligible.

► This paper is exploring new ideas on biomonitoring.
► Some airborne trace elements are transported to unexposed plant parts.
► Storage organs accumulate also airborne trace elements.
► Biomonitoring is useful to study the transfer of trace elements in the food chain.