Vegetables are a common and important source of food and nutrition but the increasing concentration of cadmium (Cd) in the food chain via wastewater–soil–vegetable continuum is posing a threat to their growth as well as human life. This study aimed at determining the effects of variation in duration of plant exposure to different dosages of Cd on growth, physiology and potential health risks of three commonly grown leafy vegetables, viz. spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) and coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.). The experiment was a 5 × 3 factorial containing five doses (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg Cd kg−1 soil) and three (25, 50 and 75 day) durations of plant exposure. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. It was found that plant height, root length, leaf area and biomass were significantly affected by increasing Cd concentration up to 40 mg kg−1 for all the vegetables. Furthermore, Cd treatments significantly affected the photosynthetic and biochemical attributes such as chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoids and total chlorophylls at various growth stages of vegetables tested in comparison with their respective controls. Accumulation of Cd in all the leafy vegetables, its daily intake via vegetable consumption and health risk index were significantly increased with the increase in Cd concentration. The highest values of these parameters were found at 40 mg Cd kg−1 soil. It could be concluded that duration of exposure and Cd dose were very important in determining Cd toxicity, which are reflected in drastic reduction in vegetable growth and physiology. Moreover, the consumption of such vegetables would have toxic effects on human health.

中文翻译：

---

阐明镉对叶类蔬菜的生长、生理和相关健康风险的影响

蔬菜是一种常见且重要的食物和营养来源，但通过废水-土壤-蔬菜连续体在食物链中不断增加的镉 (Cd) 浓度正对其生长和人类生活构成威胁。本研究旨在确定植物暴露于不同剂量 Cd 的持续时间变化对三种常见叶类蔬菜的生长、生理和潜在健康风险的影响，即。菠菜 (Spinacia oleracea L.)、胡芦巴 (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) 和香菜 (Coriandrum sativum L.)。该实验是一个 5 × 3 阶乘，包含五个剂量（0、10、20、30 和 40 毫克 Cd kg-1 土壤）和三个（25、50 和 75 天）持续时间的植物暴露。该实验采用完全随机设计 (CRD)，重复三次。发现株高、根长、将所有蔬菜的 Cd 浓度增加到 40 mg kg-1 会显着影响叶面积和生物量。此外，与各自的对照相比，Cd 处理显着影响了测试蔬菜不同生长阶段的光合和生化属性，如叶绿素 a、叶绿素 b、类胡萝卜素和总叶绿素。随着镉浓度的增加，所有叶菜类蔬菜中镉的积累量、每日蔬菜摄入量和健康风险指数均显着增加。这些参数的最高值出现在 40 mg Cd kg-1 土壤中。可以得出结论，暴露时间和 Cd 剂量对于确定 Cd 毒性非常重要，这反映在蔬菜生长和生理机能的急剧下降上。而且，