Abstract
Five commonly grown vegetables Le: radish, turnip, Prnethil, spinach and cauliflower were analyz-ed for nitrate and nitrite contents. The relationship of soil and water nitrates and nitrites with those of vegetables and the manuring effect was also studied. The average nitrates and nitrites were highest in the radish Le. 83.18 and 0+19 ppm, then comes turnip and spinach for which the values were 71.08, 71.83 and 0.11 and 0.08 ppm respectively. 'IVIethil nitrates and nitrites were 67.78 and 0.11 ppm, whereas cauliflower had 50.55 and 0I08 ppm. The effect of water nitrates was more evident than soil nitrates in increasing the nitrate values of the vegetables. The nitrate content of both soil and water did not show any relationship with those of vegetable nitrites. The values observed for nitrates and nitrites in vegetables are within the permissible Limits reported by WHO (1972).
