Nickel Accumulation in Vegetation of Serpentine Soils in Tanauan, Leyte, Philippines
Serpentinite belongs to the ultramafic group of rocks which contains naturallyoccurring heavy metals such as nickel (Ni). This study is based on the hypothesisthat Ni is present in high amounts in the soil, and it could be taken up by theplants including food crops. The study aims to evaluate the Ni content of the soiland native crops growing in the hill of Adil, Pago, Tanauan, Leyte, Philippineswhere serpentinite rocks are found. Composite soil samples from the surface soil(0-20 cm depth) and plant tissues (roots and leaf samples) were collected anddetermined their pH and Ni content using atomic absorption spectrophotometer.Results revealed that a level of extractable Ni in soils is 27.19 mg/kg-1 on averagebetween food plants and 6.35 mg/kg-1 on soils around bamboo. In terms of root Ni accumulation, pineapple rendered the highest concentration of 84.35 mg/kg-1 and bamboo with 81.15 mg/kg-1. Bamboo and guava leaves accumulated17.45 mg/kg-1 and 15.9 mg/kg-1, respectively. Since Ni is present in thenative plants grown in the area, there is a possible implication that Ni could bebiologically accumulated by people. However, no plants sampled quantified ashyperaccumulator.Keywords - Ecology and conservation, nickel accumulation in serpentinite, experimentalsurvey study, Philippines