Assessment of Heavy Metals Accumulation in Shrubs And herbs along some Selected Roads in Mubi, Nigeria

Author(s): Tizhe Tari Dlama, Yusuf Sankem Comfort, Kwaya Vawanje Bitrus, James Ussa, Sunday Bukata Dorathy.

This study assessed the accumulation of heavy metals in shrubs and herbs along Mubi Mararaba Road (MMRR), Mubi Maiha Road (MMR), Adamawa State University Second Gate (ADSU2G) road and Adamawa State University Ecological Garden (ADSUEG) in Mubi. The fresh leaves samples of the herbs and shrubs in these aforementioned locations were collected at a distance between 0-100 m and 100-200 m away from the road. After identification, the samples were air dried at room temperature and were pulverized into fine powder using wooden pestle and mortar. Analyses of heavy metals were carried out using standard procedures. The investigation revealed varied concentrations of the heavy metals such as Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe) and Lead (Pb) in both the herbs and shrubs; with those obtained at a distance between 0-100 having higher concentration of most of the metals. The study therefore, concluded that, the concentrations of Cd, Zn, Pb, Fe and Cu at the study areas which were within the ranges of 0.16-0.42 mg/kg, 2.75-7.82 mg/kg, 0.12-0.53 mg/kg, 24.13-69.52 mg/kg and 3.21-9.16 mg/kg respectively in both the herbs and shrubs were within the allowable limit for plants; and the concentrations of these metals were dependent upon distance of the plants from road.