Biomonitoring of heavy metals accumulation in wild plants growing at soon valley, khushab, pakistan

Khan Z. I., UĞULU İ., Zafar A., Mehmood N., Bashir H., Ahmad K., ...More

Pakistan Journal of Botany, vol.53, no.1, pp.247-252, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Publication Type: Article / Article
  • Volume: 53 Issue: 1
  • Publication Date: 2021
  • Doi Number: 10.30848/pjb2021-1(14)
  • Journal Name: Pakistan Journal of Botany
  • Journal Indexes: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Scopus, BIOSIS, CAB Abstracts, Veterinary Science Database
  • Page Numbers: pp.247-252
  • Keywords: Biomonitoring, Pakistan, Pollution, Trace metals, Wild plants
  • Uşak University Affiliated: Yes

Abstract

Ruminants’ health is badly affected by the hazardous effects of heavy metals. Due to the scarcity of water, feed production in many regions is very low, so mostly ruminant animals are fed with wild plants of the region. The aim of this study was to evaluate the heavy metals concentration in native forage plants of Soon Valley, Khushab, Pakistan. Twenty forage plants, which are mostly consumed by the ruminants, were selected. The concentrations of heavy metals, cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) were determined by using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS). Results from heavy metals analysis revealed that the highest Co, Cu, Zn, Fe, and Mn contents were observed in Digitaria sanguinalis (0.30 mg/kg), Hordeum leporinum (15.64 mg/kg), Hordeum leporinum (36.46 mg/kg), Achnatherum hymenoides (26.04 mg/kg) and Hordeum leporinum (28.26 mg/kg), respectively. Statistically, the results of the analyses of variance (ANOVA) for Cu, Co, Fe, and Zn showed highly significant (p<0.05) difference in all plant samples. The results of this research showed that heavy metal accumulation values in the studied plants were in the normal natural concentration range.