Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples

An Nguyen Thi Ngoc

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples

An Nguyen Thi Ngoc^*

Published in American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 3)

Received: 31 March 2025 Accepted: 19 June 2025 Published: 26 June 2025

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Abstract

Carrots have an important role for a life of the men. Everybody can use carrots in the meals or he drinks, he uses carrots such as the medicaments to cure many diseases, too. Carrots are very necessaries, we can tell the following effects: carrots help improve eyesight, especially, carrots contain vitamin A, essential nutrients for health of the eyes. When our bodies have the vitamin A deficiency in the long time, visual cells in the eye retina can been hurt, make dry eyes, the visual disturbances and it is serious that everyone does not see. Carrots support to cure the diabetes; help the strengthen immunity; improve the health cardiovascular; help beautiful healthy skin; can reduce the risk of cancer. Besides; everyone drinks carrot juice to stimulate hair growth and stabilize blood pressure. Carrots contain a lot of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium as well as antioxidants and was grown popular in all regions of Vietnam. The cultivating soil, irrigating water and carrot samples were collected in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province and analyzed some indicators. The results showed that the soil sample was poor in nutrient by N, P, K indicators were lower than the standards; but pH, Al3+ and Fe+ were higher than the standards. The water sample did not contain the toxic heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cd; but the indicators of Cu, Zn, Fe were higher than the standards. For the carrot sample, the indicators of As, Pb, Cu, Zn exceeded the allowable threshold; the contents of lipid and protein were lower than the standards but NO3- was within allowable standards. However, analysis of carrot samples grown by us using organic methods showed that some heavy metal indicators such as: As, Pb, Cu were lower than allowable standards. This showed that it is necessary to choose the type of soil, water and organic method for growing carrots in order to harvest good quality carrots and safety for users. We studied an environment of soil, water and analyzed the carrots to find a nutrition level, nutritional value and the metal accumulation in order to improve a life of men.

Published in	American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering (Volume 9, Issue 3)
DOI	10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11
Page(s)	98-102
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2025. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Carrots, Heavy Metals, Cultivating Soil, Irrigating Water, Accumulation

1. Introduction

Carrots have names: Scientific name: Daucus carota L, family: Apiaceae

[12]

. Carrots are the crop with high nutritional and economic value, they are used for fresh eating and processed into commodity products. Carrots contain a lot of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K, potassium as well as antioxidants. In Vietnam, carrots are grown in all regions and quite a popular food source in meals. In addition, carrots have been exported to Malaysia, Thailand, Middle Eastern countries and Korea...

[1]

For the vegetables, there have been many studies on growing methods, but still not enough attention to the accumulation of toxic compounds in products, especially heavy metals. Some heavy metals have been determined to be very harmful to humans such as Cu, Cd, As, Zn, Pb... if they present in vegetables with concentrations exceeding the allowable threshold

[2-4]

In this article, we presented the results of analyzing soil, water, and post-harvest carrot samples from household farmers in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province. At the same time, we experimented growing carrots using organic methods (using growing substrate, irrigating water that did not contain toxic heavy metals and using organic fertilizer completely), and analyzed the components in carrots to show the difference between the two methods of carrot cultivation

[10]

2. Materials and the Method of Research

2.1. Materials

1) The cultivating soil, irrigating water samples were collected in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province

2) Seeds of carrot were purchased from Hoa Sen Company

3) The experiment was implemented in hilly soil area in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province, from February to December of year 2022, 2023.

4) Carrot samples were collected from vegetable growing households surrounding.

2.2. Methods

We planted carrots which were grown by using many types of organic fertilizers, including wild herbs, manure fertilizer, powder lime, ash of husk, biological fertilizer

[9, 13]

… (See Table 3). Carrot seeds are lightly crushed, crumpled thoroughly, mixed with humus, placed in the sink, kept moist for two nights, sowed the seeds and covered with straw. Watering once a day until the carrots sprout, then watering once a week. After 3 - 3.5 months, harvesting the carrots.

3. Result and Discussion

3.1. Analyzing Indicators in Cultivating Soil and Water Samples

Table 1 showed the result of analysis the heavy metals of the soil samples.

Table 1. Parameters of cultivating soil sample.

N⁰	Parameters		Concentrations		Methods	Limitation values *
N⁰	Parameters		Sample 1-Hill base	Sample 2-Hill top	Methods	Limitation values *
1	pH (H₂O) 1: 5		6.04	6.38	Standard of VN 5979-1995	6.5 – 8.5
2	pH (KCl) 1: 5		4.35	4.58	Standard of VN 5979-1995	6.0
3	EC (µS/cm)		7.9	22.9	Standard of VN 6650-2000	10 – 20
4	N total (%)		0.090	0.087	Standard of VN 6445-2000	0.1 – 0.15
5	P total (%)		0.038	0.044	AOAC 990.08-2000	0.06 – 0.08
6	K total (%)		0.015	0.020		0.3 – 1.5
7	Fe exchange (mg/100g)		28.36	20.12		0.1
8	Al³⁺ exchange (mg/l00g)		9.16	2.37		0.1
9	Ca ²⁺ (mg/100g)		0.088	0.083	Standard of VN 6496-1999	4.0 – 6.0
10	Mg ²⁺ (mg/100g)		0.078	0.059	Standard of VN 6496-1999	2.0 – 3.0
11	Emery	Sand (%)	2.4	4.3	AOAC 2000	-
		Clay (%)	59.8	59.3
		Flesh (%)	37.8	36.4
12	SO₄^2- (mg/100g)		0.861	0.887	Standard of VN 6656-2000	1.0 – 2.0

Note: * Vietnam standard/National technical regulation on the limits of heavy metals contamination in food (Vietnam Technical Regulation 8-2: 2011/Medicinal Ministry)

[16]

In the Table 1, pH of soil was low, total N, K and P were very low. Ca²⁺ was low, Mg²⁺ was very low; Fe was high; Al³⁺ and SO₄^2- were low, but they were non harmful. The sand was rarely, clay and flesh were high, and porosity of soil was not much. In general, hill soil is poor in nutrients, so it is necessary to supplement nutrients, especially organic nutrients

[6-8]

Table 2. Parameters of water sample.

N⁰	Parameters	Concentrations	Methods	Limitation values *
1	Cu (mg/l)	1.85	ACIAR-AAS 015-2007	0.03
2	Pb (mg/l)	-	ACIAR-AAS 015-2007	0.01
3	Cd (mg/l)	-	ACIAR-AAS 004-2007	0.02
4	As (µg/l)	-	ACIAR-AAS 001-2007	0.2
5	Zn (mg/l)	3.51	ACIAR-AAS 019-2007	0.01
6	Fe (mg/l)	0.92	Standard of VN 6177-1996	0.5
7	AI (mg/l)	-	ISO 12020-1997	0.5
8	Color (Pt/Co)	9.0	Standard of VN 6158-1996	1.0
9	pH	7.22	Standard of VN 6492-2000	6.5 – 8.5
10	Degree of muddy, dirty (NTU)	2.9	Standard of VN 6184-1996	2.0
11	Cl^- (mg/l)	2.22	Standard of VN 6194-1996	250
12	PO₄^3- (mg/l)	0.011	Standard of VN 6178-1996	≤ 0.1
13	SO₄^2- (mg/l)	1.21	Standard of VN 6200-1996	≤ 0.5
14	N-NO₂ (mg/l)	-	Standard of VN 6178-1996	0.05
15	N-NO₃^-(mg/l)	-	Standard of VN 6180-1996	0.05
16	N-NH₄⁺ (mg/l)	0.50	Standard of VN 5988-1995	0.3
17	Coliform (MPN/100ml)	<0.03	Standard of VN 4882-2001	≤ 1000
18	E Coli (MPN/100ml)	<0.03	Standard of VN 6846-2001	20

Note: * Vietnam standard/National technical regulation on the limits of heavy metals contamination in food (Vietnam Technical Regulation 8-2: 2011/Medicinal Ministry)

[16]

In the Table 2, pH value was average, degree of color was rather high. The heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, As did not appear, the contents of NO₂, NO^-3 did not also appear. The elements of Cu, Zn, Fe, Cl^-, SO₄^2-, were over limit. The contents of Coliform and E. Coli were low.

3.2. Analyzing Indicators in Carrot Sample

Table 3. Parameters of carrots (Docus carota L-Apiaceae)

[15]

N⁰	Parameters	Concentrations		Methods	Limitation values*
N⁰	Parameters	No organic fertilizer	Organic fertilizer	Methods	Limitation values*
1	Wet degree (%)	88.6	89.12	Standard of VN 6647-2000	80 – 90
2	Substance of filament (%)	2.02	2.95	AOAC 973.18C-1990	-
3	Total Lipid (%)	0.22	0.25	AOAC 871.01-1997	0.5
4	Total Glucose (%)	7.52	7.91	AOAC 974.06-1990	1.0
5	Protein (%)	0.29	0.35	AOAC 987.04-1997	0.5
6	As (mg/kg)	0.040	0.01	AOAC 986.15	0.015
7	Cd (mg/kg)	-	-	AOAC 999.11	0.017
8	Pb (mg/kg)	0.045	0.01	AOAC 999.11	0.02
9	Cu (mg/kg)	1.21	0.09	AOAC 999.11	0.1
10	Zn (mg/kg)	126.06	2.61	AOAC 999.11	0.5
11	NO₃^-(mg/kg)	37.51	19.05	Standard of VN 7767 – 2007	≤250

Note: * Vietnam standard/National technical regulation on the limits of heavy metals contamination in food (Vietnam Technical Regulation 8-2: 2011/Medicinal Ministry)

[16]

In the table 3, the water content of carrot sample was high. The substance of filament was low. The contents of lipid and protein were lower than limit value, but total glucose was much higher than limit value. For carrot sample that was grew by no using organic fertilizer

[13]

, the heavy metals including As, Pb, Cu, Zn were over limit, Cd did not appear and the concentrate of NO₃^-was low. But when carrot was grown by using organic fertilizers (wild herbs such as Sensitive plants at figure 2, manure fertilizer, biological fertilizer… the heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cu, Zn were reduced.

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Figure 1. We make up rocks.

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Figure 2. The author presents carrots.

In general, the most of analyzed indicators and concentrations showed that the soil and irrigating water samples did not meet plant growing standards

[11]

. The carrot sample grew by chemical fertilizers also did not meet quality standards as the content of some heavy metals was still higher than the standard (for example, As, Pb, Cu, Zn). However, the carrot sample was grown by us with using organic fertilizers showed that many heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cu was lower than the allowed standard. This confirmed carrot growing by organic methods produce gave safer products than inorganic methods

[3, 4]

4. Conclusion

Samples of soil, irrigating water and carrots collected from Loc Thanh village showed that the soil samples had low pH; indicators of N, P, K were very low, and Fe⁺ content was high. This proved that the cultivating soil was poor in nutrients. The irrigating water sample did not contain toxic heavy metals such as Pb, As, Cu but some other indicators exceeded allowed standards. In particular, carrot sample had As, Pb, Cu, Zn were higher than the allowed standard; indicators of lipid and protein were lower than the allowed standard; indicators of lipid and protein was lower than the allowed standard. With the method of organic fertilizer

[14, 15]

, it was good. because heavy metals were lower. However, the carrot sample grown by organic method had some indicators lower than allowable standard, such as heavy metals As, Pb, Cu. In brief, carrots are very precious, necessaries because there are many vitamins of A can improve the health of men we must use usually carrots in the meals, especially, carrots can cure the diseases

[5]

Abreviations

pH	Potential of Hydrogen
N	Nitrogen
P	Phosphor
K	Kalium
Fe	Ferrum, Iron
Al	Aluminum.
Ca	Calcium
Mg	Magnesium
Cu	Copper
Pb	Lead
Cd	Cadmium
As	Arsenic
Zn	Zinc
SO₄	Sulfate
PO₄+	Phosphate
NO₂	Nitrite
NO₃	Nitrate
NH₄	Ammonium.

Conflicts of Interest

We declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (1996), Book “The necessaries trees on gardens in the South of Vietnam”, Agricultural Publishing, Ho Chi Minh City, pages 10-25.
[2]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2005), “Collection of studying results on 5 years”, “Study about Pb on the vegetable gardens in Ho Chi Minh City”, pages 15-23.
[3]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2008), “Study about the heavy metals having in the water vegetables in Ho Chi Minh City”, pages 6, 7, a subject of Ministry level.
[4]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2009), Conference of many Universities in the South of Vietnam, “Study about a quantity of heavy metals on the green vegetable gardens”, pages 83-90.
[5]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2010), Book “The trees to cure the diseases and an environment”, Agricultural Publishing, pages 32-34.
[6]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2020), Book: “Study about an environment to plant the clean vegetables in order to serve the people” Agricultural Publishing, Ho Chi Minh City, ISBN 978-604-60-3251-9, pages 22-27.
[7]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2022), Book: “Food safety and hygiene and environment”, Agricultural Publishing, Ho Chi Minh City, ISBN 978-604-60--3575—6, pages 12-14.
[8]	An Nguyen Thi Ngoc (2022), Book: “Nutritional food and environment”, Agricultural Publishing, Ho Chi Minh City, ISBN 978 -604-60--3579-4, pages 48-50.
[9]	Binh Trinh Loc (1972), “Document of an agricultural Development”, pages: 19, 20, 21.
[10]	Bao Lam district (2015), “Document about a report of Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province”, pages 5, 6, 7.
[11]	Chinh Nguyen Manh – Quyen, Mai van – Nghia, Nguyen van (2005), “Doctor of the planting trees”, page 8, Agricultural Publishing.
[12]	Ho Pham Hoang (1991-1993), Book: “Trees of Vietnam country”, Montreal Publishing, Chapter 2, page 609.
[13]	Journal “Popular science” (2006), number 70 (808), “The good food for old persons”, Ho Chi Minh City, pages 3,4.
[14]	Journal “Popular science” (2008), number 159 (897), “Vitamin A”, Ho Chi Minh City, pages 19-21.
[15]	Journal “Popular science” (2011), number 260 (1023), “Carrots- good vegetable, medicine”, Ho Chi Minh City, pages 2-9.
[16]	Medicinal Ministry (2011), Book: “National Technical regulation on yhe limits of metals contamination in food”, pages 4-8.

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Ngoc, A. N. T. (2025). Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 9(3), 98-102. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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Ngoc, A. N. T. Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2025, 9(3), 98-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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Ngoc ANT. Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2025;9(3):98-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11,
  author = {An Nguyen Thi Ngoc},
  title = {Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {9},
  number = {3},
  pages = {98-102},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20250903.11},
  abstract = {Carrots have an important role for a life of the men. Everybody can use carrots in the meals or he drinks, he uses carrots such as the medicaments to cure many diseases, too. Carrots are very necessaries, we can tell the following effects: carrots help improve eyesight, especially, carrots contain vitamin A, essential nutrients for health of the eyes. When our bodies have the vitamin A deficiency in the long time, visual cells in the eye retina can been hurt, make dry eyes, the visual disturbances and it is serious that everyone does not see. Carrots support to cure the diabetes; help the strengthen immunity; improve the health cardiovascular; help beautiful healthy skin; can reduce the risk of cancer. Besides; everyone drinks carrot juice to stimulate hair growth and stabilize blood pressure. Carrots contain a lot of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium as well as antioxidants and was grown popular in all regions of Vietnam. The cultivating soil, irrigating water and carrot samples were collected in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province and analyzed some indicators. The results showed that the soil sample was poor in nutrient by N, P, K indicators were lower than the standards; but pH, Al3+ and Fe+ were higher than the standards. The water sample did not contain the toxic heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cd; but the indicators of Cu, Zn, Fe were higher than the standards. For the carrot sample, the indicators of As, Pb, Cu, Zn exceeded the allowable threshold; the contents of lipid and protein were lower than the standards but NO3- was within allowable standards. However, analysis of carrot samples grown by us using organic methods showed that some heavy metal indicators such as: As, Pb, Cu were lower than allowable standards. This showed that it is necessary to choose the type of soil, water and organic method for growing carrots in order to harvest good quality carrots and safety for users. We studied an environment of soil, water and analyzed the carrots to find a nutrition level, nutritional value and the metal accumulation in order to improve a life of men.},
 year = {2025}
}

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TY - JOUR
T1 - Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples
AU - An Nguyen Thi Ngoc
Y1 - 2025/06/26
PY - 2025
N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11
DO - 10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11
T2 - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JF - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
JO - American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering
SP - 98
EP - 102
PB - Science Publishing Group
SN - 2578-7993
UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11
AB - Carrots have an important role for a life of the men. Everybody can use carrots in the meals or he drinks, he uses carrots such as the medicaments to cure many diseases, too. Carrots are very necessaries, we can tell the following effects: carrots help improve eyesight, especially, carrots contain vitamin A, essential nutrients for health of the eyes. When our bodies have the vitamin A deficiency in the long time, visual cells in the eye retina can been hurt, make dry eyes, the visual disturbances and it is serious that everyone does not see. Carrots support to cure the diabetes; help the strengthen immunity; improve the health cardiovascular; help beautiful healthy skin; can reduce the risk of cancer. Besides; everyone drinks carrot juice to stimulate hair growth and stabilize blood pressure. Carrots contain a lot of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium as well as antioxidants and was grown popular in all regions of Vietnam. The cultivating soil, irrigating water and carrot samples were collected in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province and analyzed some indicators. The results showed that the soil sample was poor in nutrient by N, P, K indicators were lower than the standards; but pH, Al3+ and Fe+ were higher than the standards. The water sample did not contain the toxic heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cd; but the indicators of Cu, Zn, Fe were higher than the standards. For the carrot sample, the indicators of As, Pb, Cu, Zn exceeded the allowable threshold; the contents of lipid and protein were lower than the standards but NO3- was within allowable standards. However, analysis of carrot samples grown by us using organic methods showed that some heavy metal indicators such as: As, Pb, Cu were lower than allowable standards. This showed that it is necessary to choose the type of soil, water and organic method for growing carrots in order to harvest good quality carrots and safety for users. We studied an environment of soil, water and analyzed the carrots to find a nutrition level, nutritional value and the metal accumulation in order to improve a life of men.
VL - 9
IS - 3
ER -

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An Nguyen Thi Ngoc

University of Natural Science, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

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Ngoc, A. N. T. (2025). Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering, 9(3), 98-102. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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ACS Style

Ngoc, A. N. T. Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. Am. J. Environ. Sci. Eng. 2025, 9(3), 98-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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AMA Style

Ngoc ANT. Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples. Am J Environ Sci Eng. 2025;9(3):98-102. doi: 10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11,
  author = {An Nguyen Thi Ngoc},
  title = {Metal Accumulation in Carrots, Soil and Irrigating Water Samples},
  journal = {American Journal of Environmental Science and Engineering},
  volume = {9},
  number = {3},
  pages = {98-102},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajese.20250903.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajese.20250903.11},
  abstract = {Carrots have an important role for a life of the men. Everybody can use carrots in the meals or he drinks, he uses carrots such as the medicaments to cure many diseases, too. Carrots are very necessaries, we can tell the following effects: carrots help improve eyesight, especially, carrots contain vitamin A, essential nutrients for health of the eyes. When our bodies have the vitamin A deficiency in the long time, visual cells in the eye retina can been hurt, make dry eyes, the visual disturbances and it is serious that everyone does not see. Carrots support to cure the diabetes; help the strengthen immunity; improve the health cardiovascular; help beautiful healthy skin; can reduce the risk of cancer. Besides; everyone drinks carrot juice to stimulate hair growth and stabilize blood pressure. Carrots contain a lot of beta carotene, fiber, vitamin K1, potassium as well as antioxidants and was grown popular in all regions of Vietnam. The cultivating soil, irrigating water and carrot samples were collected in Loc Thanh village, Bao Lam district, Lam Dong province and analyzed some indicators. The results showed that the soil sample was poor in nutrient by N, P, K indicators were lower than the standards; but pH, Al3+ and Fe+ were higher than the standards. The water sample did not contain the toxic heavy metals such as: As, Pb, Cd; but the indicators of Cu, Zn, Fe were higher than the standards. For the carrot sample, the indicators of As, Pb, Cu, Zn exceeded the allowable threshold; the contents of lipid and protein were lower than the standards but NO3- was within allowable standards. However, analysis of carrot samples grown by us using organic methods showed that some heavy metal indicators such as: As, Pb, Cu were lower than allowable standards. This showed that it is necessary to choose the type of soil, water and organic method for growing carrots in order to harvest good quality carrots and safety for users. We studied an environment of soil, water and analyzed the carrots to find a nutrition level, nutritional value and the metal accumulation in order to improve a life of men.},
 year = {2025}
}

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