Abstract: A pot experiment was carried out to study bioaccumulation of Cd, Cu,Pb and Zn in edible parts of 15 cultivars of water spinaches. Results show that concentrations of heavy metals differed sharply from cultivar to cultivar (P<0.05). By mean enrichment coefficient, the heavy metals followed the discending order of Zn(0.0946), Cd(0.0740),Cu(0.0500),and Pb(0.0012); the concentration of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in the edible parts of the plants varied in the range of 0.107 - 0.175; 1.35 - 3.27; 0.091 -0.162,and 23.4 - 38.9 mg•kg^-1, respectively. Cluster analysis of the concentrations of heavy metals shows that the 15 cultivars could be sorted into three groups. Among them Thai cultivar, Sihainongwang willow-leaf cultivar and Sihainongwang Dabaigeng cultivar were low in heavy metal accumulation. Correlation analysis shows that Cd and Cu were significantly  related to K and Ca,and Zn was to K, Ca, Na and Mg, while Pb did not show any significant relationship with any nutrient elements.

Key words: water spinach, heavy metals, nutrient elements, correlation