COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE EXTRACTION ABILITY OF SOME VEGETABLES FOR METALS IN CONTAMINATED SOILS OBTAINED FROM THE CHALLAWA INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, KANO, NIGERIA.

Pot experiments were conducted to examine phytoremediation abilities of leaves of cucumber ( cucumis sativus ) and lettuce (lactuca sativa ) for removal of some heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Fe) in the industrially contaminated soils of Challawain Kano, Nigeria. The analysis was conducted using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer. An experiment per species was designed with twenty replicas (ten each with polluted and control soils obtained from Modoji village in Katsina town). The mean concentrations of the metals range from 0.25 mg/kg Cd to 46.16 Fe and 0.011 mg/kg Cd to 13.61 mg/kg Fe for plants grown in the contaminated and control soils respectively. The bioaccumulation factors (BAC>1) indicates metal contamination of the soils and thus can be used for their phytoextraction. The result suggests that the investigated plants are potentially useful for remediating heavy metals from Challawa contanimated soils