Cadmium, Chromium, and Lead Uptake Associated Health Risk Assessment of Alternanthera sessilis: A Commonly Consumed Green Leafy Vegetable

Table 2

Spatial variation of physicochemical parameters and heavy metal concentrations in the root zone soil sampled from non-organic and organic Alternanthera sessilis cultivations in the Padaviya area, Sri Lanka. Data are presented as mean ± SD. In each row, the mean values with different superscript letters are significantly different from each other (ANOVA, Tukey’s test, , N = 80).

	Non-organic cultivation sites		Organic cultivation sites
	Dry season	Rainy season	Dry season	Rainy season
pH	6.63 ± 0.08^a	6.22 ± 0.36^a	6.57 ± 0.12^a	6.52 ± 0.09^a
Conductivity (μS/cm)	213.7 ± 22.1^a	173.05 ± 12.4^b	147.1 ± 19.3^c	206.72 ± 19.4^a
Organic matter content (%)	2.62 ± 0.41^a	2.46 ± 1.32^a	3.98 ± 0.33^b	5.36 ± 1.2^c
Cation exchange capacity (meq/100 g)	17.25 ± 1.00^a	20.50 ± 1.00^a	13.75 ± 0.50^b	13.00 ± 1.00^b
Pb (mg/kg dry weight of soil)	5.59 ± 0.62^a	6.44 ± 0.42^a	5.17 ± 0.52^a	5.50 ± 0.37^a
Cr (mg/kg dry weight of soil)	27.87 ± 3.78^a	28.65 ± 4.28^a	18.67 ± 2.66^b	18.68 ± 3.52^b
Cd (mg/kg dry weight of soil)	1.00 ± 0.09^a	1.03 ± 0.00^a	0.37 ± 0.01^b	0.4 ± 0.00^b