Behaviour of cadmium in soil in relation to spinach Spinacia oleracea

Large scale generation of industrial effluents and municipal waste materials due to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation has resulted in their indiscriminate and casual and careless disposal leading to heavy metal pollution in the agricultural fields of the peri-urban areas of Kolkata city. Collection and analysis of soils and cultivated vegetables collected from sewage-sludge fed agricultural fields near four sewage discharge points viz., Dhapa, Tiljala, Titagarh and Chinatown, beside Eastern Metropolitan By Pass of the Kolkata city revealed high level of contamination of these soil and plant samples by heavy metals, especially cadmium.