The Relationship Between Some Heavy Metal Concentrations in Soils, Leaves and Fruits of Starking Delicious (Malus Communis Lam.) in Van, Turkey

Abstract

Plants can only live in accordance with the ecologic conditions of their environment. Otherwise they may be unhealthy or die. There is a natural equilibrium between soils, leaves and fruits of plants. If there is soil pollution, it will affect the leaves and fruits of plants. By consuming these leaves and fruits, the health of both animals and humans will be effected negatively and exposed to danger. A simple and sensitive method is described for determination of concentrations of heavy metals in soils, leaves and fruits with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. This method has been applied to the determination of some heavy metal concentrations in soils, leaves and fruits (edible fruit) of Starking delicious, and it found the relationship between metal concentrations in soils, leaves and fruits. For Zn, fruits<soils= leaves; for Pb and Cd, fruits<soils<leaves; for Cr, Ni, Cu, and Co, soils<fruits<leaves; for Se, soils<leaves<fruits; and for Mn, fruits<leaves<soils. Samples were collected from two gardens: the Van Agriculture Profession High School (VAPH) and the Van Government Nursery (VGN) in Van City, in East Anatolia, Turkey. Soil samples were dissolved in aqua regia and 20 ml solutions were prepared. A dry-burning method was used on each sample of leaves and fruits and 100 ml solutions prepared. Heavy metal concentrations in samples were investigated by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (FAAS, Unicam 929).