ABDULMOHSEN JAMAN. A. ALZAHRANI1*, ABDULMONEIM A. Al TOUKHY1, ABDULRAHAMAN S. Al-HAJAR1, MD. MAHADI HASAN2 and MD. ARFAN ALI3
1Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 2State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China, 3Ph.D Student, Department of Arid Land Agriculture, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, KAU, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and Départment of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh. *Corresponding author’s Email: az11113333az@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The study was carried out at the Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during March 2017 to November 2018 to assess the heavy metal content in leaves of Aerva javanica, Senna italic, Abutilon pannosum, Conocurpus lancifolia and Calotropis procerra growing in polluted (Industrial city of Makkah) and unpolluted (Ain Shams) areas in Makkah Al-Mokorrama region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Obtained leaves samples were digested and analyzed for Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Nickel (Ni) and Lead (Pb). Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Pb content in leaves were significantly higher in the plant species growing in polluted site as compared to unpolluted ones. In polluted site, the highest Cd and Pb content were observed in the leaves of Conocurpus lancifolia, but the highest Cr content in leaves of Calotropis procerra and Senna italic, while the highest Cu content in leaves of Aerva javanica, however the highest Ni content in leaves of Senna italic species. The findings of this study will contribute to understand the underlying mechanisms of air pollutants and plants. The findings also imply that consuming plants growing in polluted site may cause a health risk to human and animal.
Keywords: Air pollution, Plant species, Heavy metal and Plant growth.