Abstract
BIOLOGIA (PAKISTAN) PKISSN 0006 – 3096 (Print)
June, 2018, 64 (1), 93-99 ISSN 2313 – 206X (On-Line)
Author’s Contribution: M.R., Wrote up article; M.A.K., Supervised research; W.S., Helped in review; A.N.,
Contributed in data analysis and graphs
*Corresponding author: ayaz437@gmail.com
Assessment of Roadside Soil and Brassica Rapa Contamination by Heavy
Metals in District Buner, Pakistan
MUJIBUR RAHMAN1
, MUHAMMAD AYAZ KHAN1
*, WISAL SHAH1 & ALIA NAZ1
1Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Haripur, Pakistan
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted in Buner district of Pakistan to investigate the presence of Cadmium
(Cd) and Lead (Pb) in roadside soil and Brassica rapa (Shalgham). For that purpose, soil and B. rapa
samples were collected from primary, secondary, tertiary roadside fields and control site. The samples
were investigated for Cd and Pb presence via atomic absorption spectrometer (PerkinElmer, AAS-PEA700). The Cd concentrations in soil ranged from 2.55 to 4.35 with mean value 3.31 mg/kg, 3 to 8.85 with
mean value 5.41 mg/kg, 3.15 to 5.55 with mean value 4.9 mg/kg and 2.45 to 5.25 with mean value 3.93
mg/kg on primary, secondary, tertiary road and control site respectively. While the Pb concentration in soil
was 0.85 to 40.85 with mean value 22.83 mg/kg, 13.25 to 35.3 with mean value 22.05 mg/kg, 29.83 to
43.42 with mean value 34.36 mg/kg and 1 to 36.1 with mean value 21.61 mg/kg on primary, secondary,
tertiary road and control sites, respectively. In B. rapa the Cd concentrations ranged from 2.13 to 3.5 with
mean value 2.87 mg/kg, 2 to 6 with mean value 3.6 mg/kg, 2 to 3.7 with mean value 2.8 mg/kg, 1.5 to 2.6
with mean value 2.21 mg/kg for primary, secondary, tertiary roads and control site respectively. While the
Pb concentration in B. rapa ranged from 2.9 to 7.3 with mean value 5.12 mg/kg, 0.83 to 11 with mean
value4.25 mg/kg, 0.33 to 5.3 with mean value 4.27 mg/kg, 0.2 to 11 with mean value 6.08 mg/kg for
primary, secondary, tertiary roads and control site respectively. By applying Two-way ANOVA significant
variation at P≤ 0.05 was found among the concentration of Cd and Pb in B. rapa and soil samples
collected from various sample points. It was concluded that the B. rapa along different roads sides were
found contaminated with Pb and Cd which may pose health risk.
Key words: Cadmium and lead toxicity, roadside soil, Brassica rapa, Buner
INTRODUCTION
Metal concentration beyond safe limit have
potential toxicity and bring physiological
changes in living beings. The main sources of
heavy metals existed in the urban atmosphere
due to pollutants from the traffic and transport,
effluents from the industries and other manmade activities (Wiseman et al., 2013; Naszradi
et al., 2004). Air pollution is due to traffic flux,
specially Cd and Pb together with particulate
matter, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur etc. (Irvine
et al., 2009; Morton-Bermea, 2009).
It is a matter of fact traffic flux and
concentrations of Pb have a strong association
(Atiku et al., 2011). The main cause of Pb
pollution on pavement soils and vegetation is
traffic discharges (Sharma et al., 2008; Irvine et
al., 2009; Abechi et al., 2010). Cadmium is
commercially used in carburetors as alloy during
combustion which tends to release into
surroundings (Xu et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2007).
The emitted heavy metals contaminate the soil,
and from there they make their way to the
vegetables.
Heavy metals like Cd and Pb are
inoperable and harmful for vegetable’
development; however, vegetation absorbs them
swiftly when they exist in soil (Sanchez-Martin,
2000). The phytotoxic nature of Cd not only
restrains the development of vegetables but
perishes them too. Likewise, processes of
respiration and photosynthesis are badly
affected by Cd which also reduces the
vegetables nutrient and water uptake. In
addition, continuous load of heavy metal
accumulation leads to soil degradation because
due to Cd and Pb the plant root growth might be
retarded (Irvine et al., 2009; Cannata et al.,
2013). Due to decreased production of new cell
pace, Cd reduces root growth, restrain antioxidative enzyme behavior of vegetables which
94 M. RAHMAN ET AL BIOLOGIA PAKISTAN
brings oxidative pressure in units (Liu et al.,
2003).
The excessive intake of vegetables
contaminated with heavy metals pose a risk to
human health (Khan et al., 2009; Huang et al.,
2014; Cai et al., 2015). In Toyoma Japan, a
large number of people were affected by intake
of Cd contaminated rice due to nearby mining
activities which contaminated the source of
irrigation water (Jamil, 2010). In addition, a
number of studies have also been conducted in
Pakistan to highlight contamination of soil and
some food crops of potentially toxic heavy
metals (Ullah et al., 2017; Khan et al., 2013;
Khan et al., 2011). However quite limited data is
available on the contamination of roadside soil
and vegetables. Keeping in view the
toxicological impacts of the selected metals the
current study has been designed to investigate
Cd and Pb contamination of roadsides soil and
Brassica rapa of District Buner, KP.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Study Area
District Buner lies at 34°26’34.83’’
latitude and 72°29’57.58’’ longitude in the
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. It is
a land locked area surrounded by mountain
ranges. Due to increasing population and
business growth the number of vehicles in
district is also increasing day by day (DHP,
2005). The existing road networks bifurcates into
three categories i.e. primary roads that mainly
carry mass traffic of the area, secondary roads
extended from main road and tertiary roads
extended from secondary roads also known as
link roads. Agricultural fields exist on the banks
of these roads were selected for the study.
Soil Sampling and Analysis
Randomly 10 soil samples were
collected from each primary, secondary, tertiary
road side fields with uniform distance of 4
meters from road sides and control site (field far
away from road, having almost no traffic). A
sample of 1 kg soil was drawn from 20
centimeters depth and put into an air tight
polythene bags. The bags were transported to
laboratory for analysis. Soil samples of 0.5 g
were digested with concentrated HNO3 and
HClO4 (5:1) ratio at 160°C till the appearance of
crystal clear solution (Khan et al., 2011). After
digestion, the suspensions were filtered and
were adjusted to 50 ml by adding deionized
water. The concentrations of heavy metals i.e.
Pb and Cd were determined by using atomic
absorption spectrometer (Analyst 700 PerkinElmer) (Khan et al., 2013; Khan et al., 2011).
Vegetable Sample Digestion and Analysis
The B. rapa samples were randomly
collected from those points where soil samples
were collected. An oven dried edible portion of
sample of 0.5 g was put into acid washed
digestion tube. A mixture of concentrated HNO3,
HClO4 and H2SO4 (5:1:10) was added and left
for 24 hrs. Next, the tubes were fixed in the
digestion block at temperature of 80ºC for one
hour and the temperature was increased from
120-130 ºC till complete digestion was done.
After digestion, the suspensions were filtered
and were adjusted to 50 ml by adding deionized
water. The concentrations of heavy metals i.e.
Pb and Cd were determined by using atomic
absorption spectrometer (Analyst 700 PerkinElmer) (Khan et al., 2013).
Data Analysis
The collected data was analyzed for
descriptive statistics i.e. mean, standard
deviation etc. and Two-way ANOVA by using
SPSS software.
RESULTS
Cd Concentration in Soil
The Cd concentration in soil ranged
from 2.55 to 4.35 mg/ kg with <3.31> mean
concentration on primary road site. On
secondary road site, the concentration ranged
from 3.0 to 8.85 mg/kg with <5.41> mean
concentration. On tertiary road site, it ranged
from 3.15 to 5.55 mg/kg with mean
concentration <4.9>. On control site, the Cd
concentration in soil ranged from 2.45 to 5.25
mg/kg with <3.93> mean concentration (Fig: 1).
VOL. 64 (1) ROADSIDE SOIL COTAMINATION BY HEAVY METALS 95
Fig: 1. Mean concentrations of Cd in soil of primary, secondary and tertiary roadside site: error bars
indicate standard deviation.
Cd Concentration in Brassica rapa
The actual concentration of cadmium in
B. rapa along with different sampling points
namely primary, secondary, tertiary roadside
fields and control site were determined. On
primary road site, the Cd concentration in B.
rapa ranged from 2.13 to 3.5 mg/kg with <2.87>
mean concentration. On secondary road site,
the Cd concentration in B. rapa ranged from 2.0
to 6.0 mg/kg with <3.6> mean concentration, on
tertiary road site the Cd concentration in B. rapa
ranged from 2.0 to 3.70 mg/kg with <2.80>
mean concentration. On control site, the Cd
concentration B. rapa ranged from 1.50 to 2.60
mg/kg with <2.21> mean concentration (Fig: 2).
Fig: 2. Mean Cd concentrations in B. rapa grown along primary, secondary and tertiary roadside: error
bars indicate standard deviation.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Concentration of Cd in soil
Control Primary Secondary Tertiary
(mg/kg)
Sampling points
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Control Primary Secondary Tertiary
Actual concentration of Cd in B. rapa
(mg/kg)
Sampling points
96 M. RAHMAN ET AL BIOLOGIA PAKISTAN
Pb Concentration in Soil
The concentration of Pb in soil along
with different sampling points namely primary,
secondary, tertiary roads and control site were
determined. On primary road site, the Pb
concentration in soil ranged from 0.85 to 40.85
mg/kg with <22.83> mean concentration. On
secondary road site, the Pb concentration in soil
ranged from 13.25 to 35.3 mg/kg with <22.05>
mean concentration. On tertiary road site, the Pb
concentration in soil ranged from 29.83 to 43.42
mg/kg with <34.36> mean concentration. On
control site, the Pb concentration in soil ranged
from 1.0 to 36.1 mg/kg with <21.61> mean
concentration (Fig: 3).
Pb Concentration in B. rapa
The actual concentration of Pb Lead in
B. rapa along with different sampling points
namely primary, secondary, tertiary roads and
control site were determined. On primary road
site the Pb concentration B. rapa ranged from
2.90 to 7.3mg/kg with <5.12> mean
concentration. On secondary road site, the Pb
concentration B. rapa ranged from 0.83 to 11
mg/kg with <4.25> mean concentration. On
tertiary road site, the Pb concentration B. rapa
ranged from 0.33 to 5.3 mg/kg with <4.27>
mean concentration. On control site, the Pb
concentration B. rapa ranged from 0.2 to 11
mg/kg with <6.08> mean concentration (Fig: 4).
Fig: 3. Mean concentrations of Pb in soil of primary, secondary and tertiary roadside site: error bars indicate
standard deviation.
Fig: 4. Mean Pb concentrations in B. rapa grown along primary, secondary and tertiary roadside site: error
barsindicate standard deviation.
0
10
20
30
40
50
Control Primary Secondary Tertiary
Concentration of Pb in soil
(mg/kg)
Sampling points
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Control Primary Secondary Tertiary
Concentration of Pb in B. rapa
(mg/kg)
Sample points
VOL. 64 (1) ROADSIDE SOIL COTAMINATION BY HEAVY METALS 97
DISCUSSION
Industrialization and motorization have
greatly polluted the environment with several
potential toxic heavy metals (Waisberg et al.,
2003). PM released in environment as a result of
gasoline i.e. high-speed engine oil and high
speed diesel burning have been analyzed for Cd
and Pb contents. The concentration of Pb was
found in the range of 0.0275-0.614 g/L while Cd
was not detected. In high speed diesel mean
value of Cd 0.003g/L and Pb 0.0038gm/L has
been reported (Zhou et al., 2016).
Beside these a number of studies
reported the contamination of roadside plants
and soils with Pb and Cd (Rahim et al., 2016;
Bakirdere et al., 2008; Fusconi et al.,2015;
Botsou et al., 2016). Important pathways for
uptake of these toxic heavy metals are
particulate matters and food (Sandalio et
al.,2001). Vegetables uptake and accumulate
high amount of heavy metals than other food
crops (Cenkci et al., 2010). Daily intake of heavy
metals like Cd and Pb pose health risk to the
general population (Zhou et al., 2016). The
presence of Pb and Cd in the vegetable and soil
samples is a health risk (Shaheen et al.,2016;
Khan et al.,2009; Huang et al.,2014; Cai et
al.,2015; Sharma, et al., 2016) for the residents
of the study area. Because both Pb and Cd are
known for their toxicities. Exposure to which can
cause a number of fatal diseases. They include
renal malfunction and neurological issues.
Studied so far highlighted the harmful impacts of
these metals up to some extent while the rest
are still awaited to be explored (Meeker et al.,
2008).
CONCLUSION
The study estimated the concentration
of potentially toxic heavy metals absorbed by
roadside soil and vegetables. Comparison of the
data of Cd and Pb in soils and B. rapa of
primary, secondary, tertiary and control sites
showed significant variations. So, the higher
concentration of these heavy metals may be due
to high rate of vehicular emissions, whereas the
concentration of Cd and Pb in control site might
be due to geographical factors rather than traffic.
It was concluded that the B. rapa along different
roads sides were found contaminated with Pb
and Cd which may pose health risk.
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MUJIBUR RAHMAN, MUHAMMAD AYAZ KHAN, WISAL SHAH, ALIA NAZ. (2018) Assessment of Roadside Soil and Brassica Rapa Contamination by Heavy Metals in District Buner, Pakistan, Biologia – Journal of Biological Society of Pakistan, Volume 64 (I), Volume 64 (I).
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