Investigation of heavy metal pollution in some vegetables and fruits irrigated with Büyük Menderes river in Aydin province

In this work, heavy metal pollution that arise from Büyük Menderes River which is the most important irrigation source of Aydın, has been studied.Nine crops (kidney-bean, okra, corn, pepper, spinach, eggplant, tomato, watermelon, green beans) are collected from field that is irrigated with Büyük Menderes River. Metals in these crops are disssociated with wet burn method. Five metals were detected with AAS from sollution obtained with wet burn method. Copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) are metals detected.To ensure the pollution from Büyük Menderes River, same crops were collected from unirrigated area and same processes were applied.Pollution of five metals were determined in all collected crops. Metal concentrations in crops irrigated with Büyük Menderes River were higher than unirrigated crops.Keywords: Iron, copper, cadmium, lead, zinc, wet burn, AAS, Great Menderes River