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Journal of Applied and Industrial Sciences, 2013, 1 (2): 97-102, ISSN: 2328-4595 (PRINT), ISSN: 2328-4609 (ONLINE)

Research Article

*Corresponding author E-mail: kamaltha99@rediffmail.com

Abstract- Plants acquire nutrients including trace element from

the soil for their growth. At high concentrations in polluted

soil, trace elements can accumulate in the plants and get

introduced in food chain. The elements ( Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Pb,

Ni, P, Co and Cr) were determined in nine soil and Sourghm

Color (Abusabeen), samples from the bank of the Blue Nile

(BN) (6 samples) and White Nile (WN) (3samples) around

Khartoum province, Sudan (Fig.1).The concentrations of the

elements in the samples were comparable with local and

international data. The enrichment factors (E.F.) for elements

in the plant were calculated. The elemental concentrations and

(E.F.) of the plants from the BN were comparatively higher

than WN, whereas a relative measure of the transfer of the trace

element from the soil to the plant expressed by transfer factor

(TF) were higher in WN soil. The soil analysis revealed that

WN soil is sandy soil while BN is clay soil. The

physiochemical properties of soil supported the finding. It was

concluded that the uptake of element by plants depends upon

the type of soil and the concentration of available elements.

Index terms: Sorghum color, Trace elements, Transfer &

accumulation factors.

I. INTRODUCTION

udan topography consisted mainly of deserts, except the

narrow strip of the Nile valley which provide fertile

agricultural soil. The study area is the White Nile and Blue

Nile around Khartoum province. The White Nile originates

from Lake Victoria in Uganda while the Blue Nile starts from

the Ethiopian Plateau. The soil of the While Nile is sandy

while that of Blue Nile is black clay soil, and the rocks are

composed of hard igneous rock. Total estimated area is about

126, 000 ha, with almost half in Khartoum State [1]. Plants are

used as bioindicators for pollution extents [2], trace and macro

elements intake [3, 4] and phytoextraction [5 , 6]. Hokura et

al. [7] calculated the accumulation and enrichment factors by

soil and plant analysis and found that the essential elements

(K, Mg, Mn, Cu, Zn, B and P) have large enrichment factors.

The shrub species Pittosoporum tobica was analyzed [8] to

monitor the distribution of element and anthropogenic effects

upon the accumulation of trace elements. On the other hand

Sardans et al. [9] investigated the effect of global climate

change upon the accumulation of trace metals in plants and

found that warming leads to an increase of Al, As, Cr and Cu.

Some plants species were found to have tolerance to toxic

metals uptake in polluted mine soil as they were found to

accumulate high concentrations of Al, As, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn

[10]. Mingorance et al. [11] found that plant uptake by park

and foliage for trace metals was the same. They also indicated

that Cu and Pb uptake was enhanced by anthropogenic factors.

Petrochemical plants were associated with raised levels of As,

Mo, Ni, S, Se, V and Zn while traffic enhances elements like

Cu, Pb, Pt, Pd and Sb [12]. The trace element pollutants can

risk human life through food chain where plant is the

intermediate path [13]. Plants are used in the process of

phytoremedation for contaminated soil [14-16] due to trace

element uptake from soil.

The objective of this study is to determine the elemental

contents for soil and Sorghum color samples, calculate the

enrichment factor (EF) and transfer factor (TF) and correlate

that to soil properties.

II. MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil samples were collected from nine sites at the bank of

the B.N. (6 site) and W.N. (3 sites) from 10 cm depth using

stainless steel knife. The samples were kept in plastic bags and

immediately taken to the laboratory where they were oven

dried at 50°C for 24 h. The samples were then stored for

analysis. The plant samples were collected from the same sites.

The stem and leaves were separated from the roots, washed

with tape water then distilled water and left to dry at room

temperature in shade. The soil particle size distribution was

determined to a standard method [17] by passing through

different size sieves. The texture classification was done using

the international society of science scheme (ISSS). Chemicals

used for digestion were of analytical grade (Merck -Germany)

and were used without further purification. The soil digestion

was carried out by transferring 1.0 g of dry soil sample to a

Teflon reactor where a mixture of 5 ml HNO3

Soil-Plant Transfer and Accumulation Factors

for Trace Elements at the Blue and White Niles

Kamal K.Taha*1

, Mona I. Shmou1, Maisoon H.Osman

1, M. H. Shayoub

2

1 College of Applied and Industrial Sciences, Department of chemistry, University of Bahri, Sudan.

2College of Pharmacy, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, Sudan

(Received: April 29, 2013; Accepted: May 31, 2013)

S

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Journal of Applied and Industrial Sciences, 2013, 1 (2): 97-102, ISSN: 2328-4595 (PRINT), ISSN: 2328-4609 (ONLINE)

(70% v/v), 5 ml HClO4 (70% v/v), and 10 ml HF (48% v/v)

was added. The solution was then heated to dryness in an open

hot-plate, and the residue was re-dissolved in 5 ml HCl (36%

v/v) and 20 ml distilled water. The resulting solution was

filtered and transferred to a 100 ml volumetric flask. This

analytical protocol is assumed to dissolve the silicate matrix of

the sample and thus yield a ―total‖ digest [18]. The plant

samples were digested by weighing 1.0 gram of a dry sample

in a beaker. About 10.0 ml of HNO3 was added and the

mixture was heated in a sand bath then washed with distilled

water and kept in a volumetric flask. A Perkin –Elmer -1130

atomic absorption spectrometer was employed for atomic

absorption analysis of samples. The reference material lake

sediment (STM5) and hay powder (V-10) obtained from the

international atomic energy (IAEA were digested according to

the method employed for soil and plant. Soil pH was

determined by using pH meter (HANNA HSA) in 1:2.5 (W/V)

by mixture the soil to de-ionized water.

Figure 1. Photo of Study Area

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Figure 2. USDA textural triangle for textural classification of soil

N

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Journal of Applied and Industrial Sciences, 2013, 1 (2): 97-102, ISSN: 2328-4595 (PRINT), ISSN: 2328-4609 (ONLINE)

Table 1.The particle size distribution for soil from WN and BN

Sample soil from White Nile ,

W=50.78

Sample soil from Blue Nile

, W=50.85

Size of sieve by

(mm)

Mass% Size of sieve by (mm) Mass%

4 - 4 -

2 - 2 0 %

1 3 % 1 0 %

0.5 10 % 0.5 0 %

0.25 22 % 0.25 2 %

0.125 29 % 0.125 28 %

0.063 12 % 0.063 24 %

0.032 6 % 0.032 30 %

0.01 11% 0.01 9 %

94 % 93 %

Table 2. Average value of physiochemical properties of the soil

Property WN BN

Organic matter % 2.64 4.07

ECE (µS) 1020 300

Moisture content % 1.38 2.15

pH 7.89 7.75

Table 3. Average elemental concentration (ppm) in the soil samples from BN and WN

Physiochemical properties are important parameters in soil to

plant nutrients uptake [19, 20]. From the results of soil

particle size distribution (Figure (2) and Table (1) ), it can be

concluded that soil from the WN has 30% fine particles of ≤

63 mm compared to the BN soil that contains about 63%. This

indicates that the WN soil is sandy soil while that of the BN is

clay soil. The average values of physiochemical properties of

the (WN) and (BN) soil indicate that the electrical

conductivity (ECE) is higher at the WN soil, this may due to

more soluble ions which increase the electrical conductivity

(ECE). Both soil are slightly alkaline (WN having a little

higher alkalinity). A T-test was carried out to compare the

elemental concentration at the BN and WN stations. The test

revealed that the elements of lethiogenic origin i.e Fe, Co and

Mn were significantly different in the two areas while those of

anthropogenic origin i.e. Pb, Zn, Cr and Cu were not

significantly different. When the values obtained by were

compared with data obtained by Hassona [21], who worked in

Element BN WN Hassona Elidrisi

Fe 84000 39000 53770 33000 - 94000

P 7100 4200 801

Mn 1523 506 896 816 - 1516

Cr 89.7 71.7 259

Co 92.8 36.7 88 40.8 - 104

Ni 62.0 46.7 41 41.3 - 72

Cu 53.0 45.0 45 40.8 - 106

Zn 199.0 143.0 72 189.8 - 149

Pb 77.1 49.7 -

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Journal of Applied and Industrial Sciences, 2013, 1 (2): 97-102, ISSN: 2328-4595 (PRINT), ISSN: 2328-4609 (ONLINE)

Elguneid scheme, a similarity in the concentrations of Fe, Co,

Ni and Cu can be observed. The high concentration of Zn in

Khartoum may be an indication of pollution taking place. The

results are within the ranges reached by Elidrisi [22] and

Ahmed [23] who worked in the BN at Khartoum.

Table 4. Average elemental concentrations (ppm) in plants samples from BN and WN

Table 5. Enrichment and transfer factor for plants samples from BN and WN

Table (4) shows the elemental concentrations obtained for

plant samples. Similar values of Pb and Zn concentrations

were observed in Kampala city [24]. The concentrations of

elements in plant samples from the WN are higher than those

from BN though the elemental concentration in soil samples

from the latter was higher. This finding agree with the

assumption that Fe and other transition metals like Cr, Co, Ni

that form chelates in with the organics of the clay are not

available for plant uptake[25, 26]. Quartacci et al. [4] used

nitrilotriacetate as chelating agent to desorb trace metals from

soil to avail it for plant uptake. This study supports the low

trace metal uptake by plants from the clay soil of the BN. The

enrichment factor (EFi) or accumulation factor for an element

was calculated using the formula [27].

soili

planti

iFeX

FeXEF

]/[

]/[ (1)

Where Xi, Fe are the concentrations of element (i) and Fe

respectively.

The transfer factor (TFi) which is obtained by dividing

the element concentration in the plant over its

concentration in soil [3] was also calculated. Table (5)

gives the values for (EFi) and (TFi) for the elements under

investigation in the BN and WN plant samples. The

transfer factor is an indication of the plant species ability or

tendency to uptake a certain element from the soil [28-30].

The values obtained for the (EFi) are higher for plant

samples from the BN though the elemental concentrations

have the opposite trend. These high values can be

explained by the lower uptake of Fe (reference) by plants

from BN, hence the numerator in equation (1) will be more

resulting in high values of (EFi). On the other hand the

values of (TFi) are of higher values for plant samples from

Element BN WN Elidrisi

Fe 561 841 47 - 2455

P 3700 2700

Mn 80.0 41.4 7.6 - 162

Cr 10.2 13.6

Co 2.1 2.4 0.003 – 0.63

Ni 3.6 5.2 0.07 – 4.8

Cu 17.6 21.8 2.4 – 15.0

Zn 51.0 37.2 6.6 – 48.9

Pb 4.2 3.5

Element EFi TFi

BN WN BN WN

Fe 0.007 0.022

Cr 18 8.8 0.113 0.190

Mn 7.9 3.8 0.053 0.082

Co 3.4 3.1 0.023 0.066

Ni 8.8 5.2 0.058 0.111

Cu 49.8 22.5 0.033 0.484

Zn 37.9 12.1 0.256 0.253

Pb 81.5 3.4 0.054 0.073

P 77.8 29.8 0.521 0.643

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the WN, not following the concentration trend. This

contradiction may be justified as follows: the (EFi) were

calculated using the total Fe in soil which is higher than

what may be available, due to chelation of transition

elements with organics in the clay soil of BN. Thus it is

more appropriate to obtain the value employing the

sequential extraction method where the elements available

for plants can be determined[27]. Similar result were

obtained by Abu-Khadra et al. [31], who found that the

uptake of Cs and Sr by wheat grown on sandy soil is

greater than clay soil. This finding indicates that the

element uptake by plants in less clay or sandy soil is higher

than the clay soil. In a similar study Sardans and Peñuelas

[32] suggested that in determining the (EFi) the solubility-

absorption-retention levels should be considered. Thus the

(EFi) values are not linear with the concentration of

elements in soil [33] but depends upon soil properties. The

values of (TFi) obtained in this study were less than those

obtained in an industrial area in Turkey [3]. The low (TFi)

for Zn in the sandy WN soil may be due to the greater soil

pH, at which zinc is precipitated as Zn(OH)2 or ZnCO3[34,

35 ]. In a similar studies it has also been reported that Zn

inhibit the Cu absorption [36, 37]. The low transfer factor

for copper at the BN may be attributed to organic matter

content in the BN soil that chelates with positive ion

rendering them unavailable for plant uptake [38]. This is in

agreement with Benke et al. [39] who reported that

increase in organic matter content decreases the extractable

copper and increases the extractable zinc [40]. The transfer

factor of all elements for plants grown in BN and WN soil

are low may be due to soil alkalinity that reduces the

mobility of ions [41].

VI. CONCLUSIONS

1. According to the particle size distribution we observed

that White Nile soil is sandy while the Blue Nile soil is

clay

2. The elemental concentration of the Blue Nile soil is

higher compared to the White Nile soil.

3. The TF for Sorghum color from (WN) soil is greater

than BN soil.

4. We can conclude that the Sorghum color can be used as

food for animals and the fodder is not polluted with

metals.

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