Berhanu Leykun, Abebe Masresha, Gizeyatu Adinew, Berihun Gete, Teshome Daniel, Walle Zebader
Department of Environmental Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
Department of Anatomy, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Wollo University, Dessie, Ethiopia.
Environ Health Insights. 2022 Oct 11;16:11786302221127856. doi: 10.1177/11786302221127856. eCollection 2022.
Cultivation of vegetables using untreated wastewater is a common phenomenon in many drought-prone areas of the world. Consumption of such microbiologically unsafe vegetable increase the risk of food-borne diseases. As a result, evaluating the effect of wastewater irrigation on the microbiological quality of vegetables would be beneficial to consumers' health.
A total of 192 vegetable samples (lettuce, cabbage, carrot, and tomato) and 64 irrigation water samples were collected and analyzed for total bacteria and coliform count using a standardized protocol over a 4 month period. One-way analysis of variance and Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze the data. Statistical significance was defined at a -value of less than 0.05.
Carrots were the least polluted vegetable, according to the study, while cabbage had the highest contamination levels. The mean bacterial count among the vegetables differs significantly ( < 0.05). The fecal coliform counts of the irrigation wastewater exceed the international wastewater irrigation standards. The mean microbial count between vegetables and water samples showed a significant positive relationship ( < 0.05). All of the analyzed vegetable samples were of borderline microbial quality for fecal coliform bacteria.
Irrigation wastewater has a low microbiological quality, which significantly contributes to the contamination of vegetables grown on it.
Measures should be taken to improve the microbial quality of wastewater as well as the quality of vegetables grown in order to protect consumers' health from food-borne diseases.
在世界上许多易干旱地区，使用未经处理的废水灌溉蔬菜是一种常见现象。食用此类微生物不安全的蔬菜会增加食源性疾病的风险。因此，评估废水灌溉对蔬菜微生物质量的影响将有益于消费者健康。
在4个月的时间里，共采集了192份蔬菜样本（生菜、卷心菜、胡萝卜和西红柿）和64份灌溉水样，并使用标准化方案分析了总细菌和大肠菌群数量。采用单因素方差分析和皮尔逊相关系数对数据进行分析。统计学显著性定义为P值小于0.05。
根据研究，胡萝卜是污染最轻的蔬菜，而卷心菜的污染水平最高。蔬菜中的平均细菌数量差异显著（P<0.05）。灌溉废水的粪大肠菌群数量超过了国际废水灌溉标准。蔬菜样本和水样之间的平均微生物数量呈显著正相关（P<0.05）。所有分析的蔬菜样本的粪大肠菌群微生物质量都处于临界水平。
灌溉废水的微生物质量较低，这对生长在其上的蔬菜污染有显著影响。
应采取措施提高废水的微生物质量以及所种植蔬菜的质量，以保护消费者健康免受食源性疾病的侵害。
