Heavy Metal Content in Soil and Medicinal Plants in High Traffic Urban Area

The content of mercury, lead, cadmium, copper, zinc, chromium, and nickel in the agricultural soils of southern and western Manitoba was investigated. The background levels of these metals in uncontaminated soils as well as the extent of contamination from agricultural, automotive, and urban sources was determined. Heavy metal concentrations in the surface soils were found to be closely related to concentrations in the soil parent materials. Agricultural practices had no detectable effect on the heavy metal content of the soil. Some accumulation of lead was found in soils adjacent to highways and in the Winnipeg urban area. In general, there was little or no contamination of agricultural soils with mercury, cadmium, copper, zinc, chromium, or nickel.

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Dust Accumulation, Heavy Metal Content and Stomata Morphology of Some Medicinal Plants at Rock Quarrying Locations at Lokpaukwu, Nigeria

International Journal of Environment and Climate Change ◽

10.9734/ijecc/2020/v10i1230331 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 540-549

Author(s):

C. E. Ogbonna ◽

F. I. Nwafor ◽

O. O. Ogbonnaya

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Medicinal Plants ◽

Metal Content ◽

Cadmium Concentration ◽

Heavy Metal Content ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Sample Collection ◽

Lead And Cadmium ◽

Polluted Sites ◽

Dust Accumulation

Aims: This study evaluated the effect of rock quarrying on dust accumulation, heavy metal content and stomata features of some medicinal plants at Lokpaukwu, Nigeria. Place and Duration of Study: Sample collection was carried out at the quarry sites in Lokpaukwu, followed by laboratory analyses which were conducted in the Department of Pharmacognosy and Environmental Medicines and Centre for Energy Research and Development (CERD), University of Nigeria, Nsukka between January and March, 2019. Methodology: Five (5) commonly used medicinal plants were selected and collected from the two pollution sites (A and B). Same species collected 20 km away from the sites served as control. Clearing method was employed in foliar micro-analysis while heavy metal accumulation in the samples was estimated by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). Results: The study showed considerable variation in dust load among the plants from each study site. This led to some observed physiological anomalies– occlusion of stomata pores, plasmolysis, and shrunk epidermal cells. Quantitative stomata parameters were also affected as plants from polluted sites had narrower pores and more number of stomata than the control. Concentrations of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cd, As and Cu) in plants collected from dust polluted sites were also higher than those from the control location. For example, lead and cadmium concentration in most of the plants were in this order: site A > site B > site C. Conclusion: These findings have further validated reports of earlier researchers on the deleterious effects of dust pollution as a result of quarrying activities on plant health. Strict compliance to precautionary and mitigation measures by both the inhabitants and quarry companies are recommended for safer environment and good health.

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Study of The Pharmacological Activity and Heavy Metal Content of Eichhornia Crassipes Extract

ICONIET PROCEEDING ◽

10.33555/iconiet.v2i2.17 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 91-95 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jimmy Jimmy ◽

Diah Indriani Widiputri ◽

Paulus Gunawan

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Pharmacological Activity ◽

Water Hyacinth ◽

Metal Content ◽

Eichhornia Crassipes ◽

High Light Intensity ◽

Milling Process ◽

Heavy Metal Content ◽

Solvent Ratio ◽

Negative Impacts

Eichhornia crassipes is well-known as water hyacinth. Water hyacinth grows rapidly in the nutrient-rich water and high light intensity places. The uncontrollable growth of water hyacinth has caused many negative impacts to the environment. For instance, interrupted water transport and decreased population of aquatic lives. The capacity of utilising water hyacinth is slower than water hyacinth growth and water hyacinth is still considered as a threat to theecosystem. This work was focused on the study of the pharmacological activity and heavy metal content of water hyacinth in Lake Cipondoh, Tangerang. Fresh water hyacinth was pre-treated through oven-drying and milling process. After that, each part of the plant was macerated by using multiple extraction method with 96% ethanol/water and three variations of sample-to-solvent ratios (1:30, 1:50, and 1:75 w/v). The result of the experiment showed thatwater hyacinth leaves produced an extract with lowest IC 50 (55.76 ± 6.73 ppm) compared toother parts. The most optimum solvent used to achieve this result was 96% ethanol/water (1:1 v/v). In order to obtain the lowest antioxidant activity, the sample to solvent ratio used was 1:50 and the heavy metal in the extract was very low. With this result, it was concluded that there is a promising opportunity to apply the water hyacinth growing in Lake Cipondoh, Tangerang as herbal medicine ingredient. Through this utilization, the overall number of water hyacinth in Indonesia can be reduced or at the least be controlled, so that the environmental problem caused by this plant can be minimized.

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