Table 3.

Median metal concentrations (mg Kg⁻¹ fresh weight) in unwashed and washed spinach “S” (Spinacea Oleracea) and turnip “B” (Brassica Rapa) from home gardens from three study sites. The number of vegetable samples per study site and vegetable type is given in parentheses.

Element	Plant	Study site			P value §
		Valcamonica Median (IQR) (S=21; B=9)	Bagnolo Mella Median (IQR) (S=6; B=9)	Garda Lake Median (IQR) (S=20; B=22)
Cd	Unwashed spinach	0.05 (0.02–0.14)	0.06 (0.02–0.13)	0.06 (0.01–0.36)	0.63
	Washed spinach	0.04 (0.01–0.10)	0.02 (0.01–0.06)	0.05 (0.01–0.31)	0.07
	Turnip	0.01 (0.01–0.02)	0.02 (0.01–0.04)	0.01 (0.01–0.04)	0.002
Cu	Unwashed spinach	0.9 (0.67–3.10)	2.11 (0.82–3.06)	1.62 (0.52–40.50)	0.05
	Washed spinach	0.72 (0.37–1.00)	0.56 (0.42–1.04)	0.85 (0.40–14.50)	0.15
	Turnip	0.4 (0.28–1.08)	0.37 (0.28–0.59)	0.76 (0.36–5.21)	<0.0001
Fe	Unwashed spinach	93.2 (20.0–510)	537 (312–820)	166 (18.8–639)	0.003
	Washed spinach	37.5 (9.20–96.8)	28.9 (8.92–43.6)	30.5 (7.28–126)	0.47
	Turnip	5.48 (2.95–13.7)	4.14 (3.70–6.90)	4.31 (1.62–18.7)	0.32
Mn	Unwashed spinach	5.43 (0.58–16.4)	7.77 (1.31–32.0)	4.87 (1.60–18.0)	0.86
	Washed spinach	1.82 (0.15–4.73)	0.59 (0.06–2.34)	2.12 (0.95–8.50)	0.05
	Turnip	0.92 (0.52–1.52)	1.08 (0.86–1.74)	1.01 (0.71–1.50)	0.05
Pb	Unwashed spinach	0.69 (0.07–2.20)	0.95 (0.21–3.69)	0.89 (0.08–3.30)	0.21
	Washed spinach	0.15 (0.04–0.43)	0.07 (0.04–0.19)	0.21 (0.07–1.00)	0.03
	Turnip	0.01 (0.00–0.06)	0.02 (0.01–0.03)	0.02 (0.01–0.13)	0.06
Zn	Unwashed spinach	9.03 (5.60–28.0)	9.54 (3.95–13.8)	10.15 (7.44–20.0)	0.18
	Washed spinach	6.1 (2.80–18.0)	4.37 (2.97–5.33)	6.99 (4.10–13.1)	0.006
	Turnip	2.18 (1.22–4.68)	2.81 (2.21–4.91)	2.59 (1.04–7.50)	0.03

^§Comparison between Valcamonica, Bagnolo Mella and Garda Lake using Kruskall-Wallis Test