https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2017.801

Evaluation of the nitrate and nitrite content of vegetables commonly grown in Slovenia

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2017)
Submitted: 18 June 2016
Accepted: 15 October 2016
Published: 23 June 2017
Cabbage, Lettuce, Nitrate, Nitrite, Slovenia
Abstract Views: 3081
PDF: 1159
HTML: 2618
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Nitrate (NO3–) and nitrite (NO2–) levels of a total 1195 samples of nine different vegetables (lettuce, potato, cabbage, carrot, string beans, tomato, cucumber, cauliflower and pepper) collected at several locations of an intensive agricultural area in Slovenia were analysed during a period of 13 years. The content of NO2– and NO3– ions in commercial mature samples was determined using a segmented flow analyser. The average NO3– content was the highest in lettuce (962 mg/kg), cabbage (795 mg/kg), string beans (298 mg/kg), carrot (264 mg/kg), cauliflower (231 mg/kg), potato (169 mg/kg) and was moderately high in cucumber (93 mg/kg) and pepper (69 mg/kg). A low NO3– content was found in tomato (2– did not exceed 0.5 mg/kg, with the exception of potato (1.08 mg/kg). Six samples of lettuce exceeded the maximum permissible level of NO3– according to current European Union (EU) legislation. Based on the results of our investigation, we assessed the approximate daily intake (DI) of NO3– and NO2– to human body. The results indicated that with the consumption of potato, the daily intake per inhabitant is close to the acceptable DI permitted in EU.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

Supporting Agencies

Slovenian Research Agency (ARRS)
Tea Knap, Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper
Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, Department of Applied Natural Sciences
Dragan Žnidarčič, Department of Agronomy, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana
Biotechnical faculty, Department of Agriculture

How to Cite

Kmecl, V., Knap, T., & Žnidarčič, D. (2017). Evaluation of the nitrate and nitrite content of vegetables commonly grown in Slovenia. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2017.801

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.