Celje basin is one of the most degraded and contaminated areas in Slovenia, due to the industrial background. The demolition of the old zinc ore processing plant and use of contaminated waste material for embankment and driveways, resulted in wide dispersal of potentially toxic elements throughout the basin area. Because of the new trends of promoting wild plants in modern cuisine, we posed a question if in some areas in Celje basin, the use of these plants should be avoided due to contamination with toxic elements. We sampled meadow soils and aboveground, green, edible parts of selected wild plants, in spring when they are usually collected for consumption. We took soil samples in different cadmium contamination zones, predicted from previous studies, ranging from uncontaminated to critically contaminated. Plant species surveyed were ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea L.), common daisy (Bellis perennis L.), common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale L.), narrow-leaved plantain (Plantago lanceolata L.) and red clover (Trifolium pratense L.). Daisy was a greater accumulator of cadmium and lead than all other tested plant species. However, the analysis of zinc accumulation did not show significant differences between plant species. Bioactive compounds analysed were plastid pigments (β-carotene, lutein, neoxantin, antheraxantin, violaxantin, chlorophylls a and b), and tocopherols (γ, δ, α). In the case of plastid pigments, the plant species with the highest concentration was the common dandelion. Common daisy contained the lowest concentration of plastid pigments. In the case of tocopherols statistically significant differences were found between almost all plant species, excluding daisy and clover, as well as narrow-leaved plantain and common dandelion.
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