Heavy metal concentrations showed variations among different
vegetables/cereals collected from CWI and WWI irrigated sites
(Figs. 2 and 3).
Results of two way ANOVA test showed that variations
in the heavy metal concentrations were significant due to
site, plant and site plant interaction (Table 3). The variations in
heavy metal concentrations in vegetables/cereals of the same site
may be ascribed to the differences in their morphology and physiology
for heavy metal uptake, exclusion, accumulation and retention
(Carlton-Smith and Davis, 1983; Kumar et al., 2009). Several
fold higher concentrations of all the heavy metals were observed
in all the vegetables and cereal at WWI site as compared to CWI
site. The use of contaminated irrigation water at WWI site increased
the uptake and accumulation of the heavy metals in the
plants. This is consistent with reports of higher concentrations of
heavy metals in vegetables from sewage water irrigated areas as