EG9601830

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF WATER HYACINTH ( E i c h h r o n i a

c r a s s i p e s ) , A COMPARISON INDICATION OF HEAVY METAL
POLLUTION IN EGYPTIAN WATER BODIES,
I ) MAJOR AND TRACE ELEMENT LEVELS.

M.F. ABDEL- SABOUR(1), A . S . ABDEL - HALEEM(2> and E.E. ZOHNY<3)

1) Soil Pollution Unit, Soil £ Water Dept., Nuclear Res. Center.

Cairo, Egypt 13759.
2) Hot Lab's Center, Atomic Energy Authority. Egypt.
3) Physics Dept. Faculty of Science, Cairo University, Beni-Seuf
branch, Egypt.

ABSTRACT.

Water hyacinth is tested as an indicator for pollution in

Egyptian fresh surface waters. Metal composition of water
hyacinth as affected by area of collection (water bodies) was
studied and the suitability of this plant as a biological
indicator for water pollution was discussed. Water hyacinth
samples were collected three times per year for two years
(1993 - 1994). Sample sites include one location in the river
Nile (at Helwan area), one site in Ismailia canal, (at
Mostord industrial area) and one site in Abo - Zabal drain
(at Abo - Zabal city) . The concentration of 15 major and
trace elements in plant samples were determined by prompt
Gamma-Ray Neutron Activation Analysis (PGNAA). Results
indicated that plant part as well as location have a
significant effect on elements content. Water hyacinth roots
showed high affinity for accumulation of trace elements.
Plant samples analysis showed good response to the levels of
major elements in water foodies, which may suggest the good
potential use of such plant as a biological indicator.
Moreover, the biological accumulation factor (BAF) indicates
the affinity of the studied metals to reflect the levels of
the surrounding environment.

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 INTRODUCTION

Increased interest in converting aquatic weeds into a

useful resource, for example as animal feed, compost
fertilizer or energy production, and further as a pollution
control biological indicator species11"31, makes information on
the heavy metals content of such plants essential to provide
a background database from unpolluted areas throughout the
world. More information about the presence of these metals in
Egyptian aquatic environments is needed. The particular case
of WH (Eichhronia crassipes) is treated here, one of the most
important qualities of WH is its effectiveness and efficiency
in removing different inorganic elements, especially heavy
metals, from contaminated water. This makes it useful as a
biological indicator for environmental pollution14 " 51. Jamil
et al.l6] reported that WH has the ability to remove 68, 35
and 28 % of Cd, Zn and Fe respectively, from water within
five minutes. The removal of Cu, Cd, Zn and Fe in 24 hours
were 92, 82, 66 and 78%, respectively.

The reliability of a biological indicator depends on its

efficiency in representing prevailing environmental levels of
pollutants. This depends upon: a) accumulation rate b)
physiological condition c) Age or size d) Interference, e)
Environmental variables. WH has two important advantages as
indicator. 1) They are stationary and visible to the naked
eye, and 2) with attempts already made to assess
17 81
environmental damage . WH composition data in the
literature indicate a very wide range of variation in
chemical content191. This variations were related to study
site, position in the stand, season, plant part, and chemical
nature of the habitat. Maximum nutrient levels have been

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observed at the time of maximum growth1101. Goel et al.,1111
showed that the accumulation of Ca, Mg and N by WH depends on
the initial concentration of nutrients in water, the period
of growth and the plant part. Hideo et al.,1121 found that
roots, bulbs, and leaves contained a large amount of K, Na,
Mg, Ca, and P when WH was grown in solution containing high
concentrations. Plant content of some heavy metals determined
by several workers ranged as follows: 63-2770; 220-280; 55-
60; 5-10 and 0-< 5 ppm for Fe, Mn, Zn, Co and Pb
respectively,I13 "14J.

Monitoring is a basic tool in pollution control, without

monitoring there are no data upon which to base control
techniques, and no means to measure progress resulting from
their application.

The aim of this study were to evaluate the efficiency of

WH as a biological indicator of heavy metal pollution.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Samples of water and WH were collected from the river

Nile (at Helwan area), Ismaillia canal (at Mostord area), and
from Abo- Zabal drain (near to Abo-Zabal housing and
industrial area). These sites were selected such a way that
contaminations could be expected (industrial and residential
wastewater impact). Samples were collected at 20 m intervals
along 100 m line. The sites chosen for Abo Zabal drain were
to represent samples of water highly contaminated by
agriculture waste drainage and housing sewage, sites of
Ismailia canal to samples a relatively diluted case (with
industrial wastewater) and the river Nile site to represent
samples of a highly diluted case( with industrial

101*
wastewater). Each Sample was replicated 4 times and treated
Separately. Water samples were acidified, filtered and heavy
metals content were determined using Atomic Absorption
Spectroscopy. Plant samples were washed and separated into
shoots and roots, then dried at 70C For 24 h. Dry plant
materials were kept in a polyethylene vials for the non-
destructive analysis technique. Samples were analyzed for
some major and heavy metals using prompt gamma-ray neutron
activation analysis technique (PGNAA). Full details of the
system have been reported elsewhere116'. Gamma emission for
several elements was measured, calculated, and printed out by
4096 multi-channel analyzer (Canberra- 35 plus). The peak
analysis are completed through a prolonged analysis computer
program by IBM personal computer in conjunction with the
system. Energy calibration and efficiency calibration had
been performed by fitting a polynomial function to all
reference points using a number of radioactive standard
sources Am241, Cs137, Co57, and Co60. The prompt gamma-ray
spectra obtained are detected by using an anti-compton
detection array containing a hyper - pure germanium detector
of 16 % relative efficiency surrounded by Nal-Th detector.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Water samples
Water samples showed varied contamination by some heavy
metals particularly is case of Abo-Zabal drain with, Zn, Cd,
Cu, and Ni if compared to permissible heavy metals levels in
drinking water (Table 1) .

elemental Plant content

The elemental constituents of WH samples in this study,
estimated by means of activities induced by (n,y) reaction.

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The gamma-ray emitters were identified according to the
energies of the well resolved gamma-ray lines taking into
consideration that some of product isotopes could exhibit
more than one gamma-ray line.

Elemental content varied by WH shoots and roots and by

different selected of measurement (Table 2) . Concentrations
of k, Na and Ca levels were the highest whereas Rb and Cs
were the lowest. Shoots/roots concentration ratios was always
3 For Na, k and Ca, however it was 0.3 for other elements,
with the exception of samples collected from Abo -Zabal drain
which was around 0.3 for all elements due to the high
accumulation of these metals in roots. This might indicate
that the WH nutrient balance is affected significantly by
ambient element levels in the growing media (water body).

Cs apparently is not an essential component of plant

tissues, and there are few data on its occurrence in plants.
Cs is relatively easily taken up by plants, although its
absorption by roots appeared not to be parallel to k
absorption. Cs contents in WH were ranged from 0.09 to 0.87
mg/kg (Table 2) . Ozoliniya and kiunke1191 found that different
crops accumulated Cs in roots (highest value, 0.32 mg/kg).
Our data showed a higher accumulation in root samples from
both the drain and Ismailia canal which may suggest a
potential accumulation of this metal in those water bodies.

Micro-nutrients
The effect of location on chemical composition of the WH
plant parts is shown in Tables (3 and 4) . As expected most
major elements are concentrated in aerial parts, while trace
elements are concentrated in roots in all areas. While trace
elements levels were significantly higher in samples

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collected from Abo-Zabal drain compared to Nile and canal
samples. Iron contents ranged from 334 to 1554 mg/kg. Where
Fe is easily soluble, plants may taken up a very large amount
of Fe. The natural Fe content of Fodder plants ranges from 18
to about 1000 mg/kgl20J.
Zinc and Cu levels in WH samples were in the normal reported
levels. Zinc ranged from 10.4 to 93.6, Cu ranged 5.6 to 48.8
while the reported levels for WH are 250-3420, 11-67 and 15-
395 mg/kg for Fe, Zn and Cu respectively1213. In several
species growing under widely ranging natural conditions, Zn
and Cu contents of shoots do not often exceed 32 and 20 mg/kg
respectively, l221.

heavy metals
The mean levels of Ni in WH range from around 0.82 to 7.3
mg/kg, which are higher than the reported normal levels in
land plants 0.1 to 3.7 mg/kg1231. Wolverton and Mcdonald1211
found that WH absorbs and accumulates number of heavy metals
such as Cu, Cd, Pb, Cr, Fe, Mn and As. There is not much
literature on Cr in plants. Common levels of Cr found in
plant material are usually in the order of 0.02 to 2.0 mg/kg.
As shown in Table (3) Cr levels in WH foliage and roots were
2 and 6.8 mg/kg, respectively. As shown in Table (4) Cd, Pb,
and Hg were always higher in plant samples taken from the
drain compared to samples from canal and Nile Which indicate
the relative accumulation of these metals in the small water
bodies (e.g. drain and canal compared to the Nile). The
distribution of Hg in plants has recently received the
attention of most studies because of its potential pathways
into the food chain. Most information is related at present
to the content of plant Food stuffs. The background levels of
Hg in vegetables and fruits vary from 2.6 to 86 mg/kg122 and 23] .
Plant differ in their ability to take up Hg, for example, it

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was reported that Hg ranged from 0.5 to 3.5 mg/kg in trees
and Shrubs from areas of Hg mineralization1221. Our results
showed that WH accumulates Hg in amounts ranged from 0.03 -
0.2 and 0.1 -0.4 mg/kg in Foliage and roots, respectively. Hg
shoot \root ratio were equal to 0.5 in the drain and the
canal, however, at the Nile site it was only 0.3.

Pb is a major chemical pollutant of the environment there

for, its concentration in vegetation in several countries has
increased in recent decades owing to man's activities.
Natural Pb in plants growing in uncontaminated areas appears
to be quite constant ranging from 0.1 to 10 mg/kg(17}. Our
results showed Significant Pb accumulation in WH plants
collected from Ismailia canal and Abo-Zabal drain,
particularly in roots.

In human and animal nutrition Cd is accumulative, poison,

therefore, its content in foodstuffs and feed plants has been
widely studied. A conparison of Cd contents of plant
foodstuffs produced under uncontaminated conditions of
various countries Shows the highest Cd concentration in
spinach leaves (0.11 ppm, FW) and lettuce leaves (0.66 ppm
DW) as reported byl20J. Our results of Cd content are
relatively lower than those reported and lie in the
background levels.

Biological a c ^
The interrelation between tested elements in different
samples in each site could be useful for the interpretation
of the recorded results. For exarnple, ratio between plant
content and water metal levels indicates the biological
accumulation factor (BAF) according to Webber(24) . The BAF may
reflects the affinity of the studied bio-organisms to

108
specific elements or pollutants. High BAF values express the
high affinity of such organism for the studied pollutants. As
shown in Table (5) plants grown at Ismailia canal showed the
highest BAF values for Zn, Cu, Pb, Co, Cd and Ni as compared
with the other tested sites. These findings could be easily
explained by the relative higher dumping load of industrial
waste water in Ismailia canal and less dilution effect is
expected in such relatively small water body compared to the
Nile.

CONCLUSION

From the forementioned results, it could be generally

concluded that the biological accumulation factor BFA, could
be recognised as helpful to point out the variations of
different sources of polluted water, as well as, the affinity
of various hyacinth plant parts to a specific element or
pollutant. Moreover, the variations in BAF values, due to
different locations may give the satisfaction to the use of
WH plants as a biological indicators for heavy metal
pollutants. Chemical composition of WH seems to be affected
greatly by either location or plant part. Aerial parts differ
than root zones in their content of trace elements. Water
hyacinth could be a good biological indicators. Also, it
seems that it should not be used for animal feed since it
accumulates heavy metals such as Pb, Hg, and Cd particularly
in roots.

REFERENCES

[1] B.C. Welreton, NASA Tech. Mem. Tm. 22721, Nat., Aero, and
space Admin. Washington DC. USA. (1975).
[2] NAS. Nat. Acad. of Sci., Washington,DC USA, (1976).

109
[3] K,P. Singh; N.S. Parihar; K. Charan N. S. Babu and O.P.
piliwal. Innim. Sei 58; 666 , (1988).

[4] J.R. Austin; S. J. Simson; L.R. Williams and W.F. Beckert,

In Vivo in corporation toxic metals in water-hyacinth
tissues, 342, (1985).

[5] A.S. Abdel-Haleem; M.F. Abdel-Sabour and R.A. Eaghloul,

Proc. Conf. In Environmental Contamination, CEP.
Consultant LTD., Edinburgh, UK. 263,(1992).

[6] K. Jamil; M.Z. Jamil, P.V.R. Rao, and G. Thyagarjan,

Pollut. Res., 4(2), 67, (1985).
[7] J.P.C. Harding, and B.A. Whitton, Wat.Res.15,301, (1981).

[8] S.M., Haslam, Environ. Technol. lett. 3119 (1982).

[9] B. Gopal and K.P Sharma, Hindosi. Pub.(India), 566,

(1981).
[10] R.K. Trivedy and B. Gopal, Acta Limnol. Indica., 113,
(1981).
[11] P.K. Goel; R.K. Trivedy and R.R. Vaidya, Geobios, 12 (3-
4 ) , 115 (1985).
[12] K. Hideo; Y. Akend and D.T. Chuichi, Shokuhin (46), 126,
(1975).
[13] J. Kaiser; K.V. Vinay and G. Thyagarajan, Proc. of the
Inter. Conf. on Water Hyacinth 7: 237 (1983).
[14] A.A. B l - F a l a k y ; T. M. L a b i b a n d T.H. Hamed, E g y p t W a t e r
S e i . 4 : 65 ( 1 9 8 8 ) .
[15] R. Zaghloul; A.S., Abdel-Haleem and S. El- Kalla, In the
Conf. of Nuclear sciences and Applications Cairo, Egypt.
1137 (1992).
[16] G.R. Ozoliniya and I.M. Kiunke, Einante Riga:117 (1978).
[17] A. Kabata-Pendias and M. Pendias, W¥D. Geol., Warsaw,
300 (1979).
[18] B.S. Wolverton and R.C. McDonald, NASA Tech. Memorandum,
109, (1976).

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[19] H.T. Shacklette; J.A. Erdman and T.F. Harms, In
"Toxicity of Heavy Metals in The Environments", Part I.
F.W. Oehme, Ed., Marcel Dekker, New York, 25, (1978).
[20] H.T. Shacklette, US Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 1178, 14 9
(1980) .

[21] D. Chisholm, , Can. J. Plant Sci., 52, 583, (1972).

[22] S.N. Linzon; B.L. Chai; P.J. Temple; R.G. Pearson, and
M. L. Smith, APCAJ., 26, 651, (1976).
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EPA, Ohio, 542668, 11; 162, (1973).

Table (1) Heavy metals concentration in water samples ug/L

Metal Nile Ismailia Canal Abo-Zabal Drinking

Ug/L drain water

Fe 30 45 60 3000
Mn 10 12.4 170 200
Zn 10-50 5.1-3.5 180 <15
Cu <10 3.1-4.5 <10 200
Pb <12 3.9-4.8 46 3
Cd <10 0.5- 0.89 <10 0.1
Co <10 5.7-6.5 <10 50
Ni <10 4.30 <10 0.5

Table (2) Major elements content (mg/kg) in water hyacinth

plant (Shoots and roots) samples.

location organ Na K Rb Cs Mg Ca
Nile Shoot 15.9 34.3 0.52 0.09 4.1 21.8
Root 5.2 11.4 1.8 0.32 13.1 7.1
ratio 3.1 3.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 3.0
Ismailia Shoot 9.7 36.5 0.97 0.25 6.4 22.7
canal Root 3.2 12.5 3.2 0.87 21.2 7.5
ratio 3.0 3.0 0.3 0.3 0.3 3.0
Abo- Shoot 17.2 14.2 1.7 0.26 7.30 7.6
Zabal Root 52.5 42.8 5.7 0.87 26.10 22.6
drain ratio 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3 0.3

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 Table (3) Some trace elements content (mg/kg) in water
hyacinth plant (Shoots and roots) samples.

location organ Fe Zn Cu Co Ni Cr
Nile Shoot 334 18.4 5.6 4.2 0.82 1.11
Root 911 48.8 15.2 14.7 2.4 3.2
ratio 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.29 0.34 0.35
Ismailia Shoot 448 21.6 11.2 7.2 1.7 1.6
canal Root 1212 57.6 30.4 18.3 4.8 3.8
ratio 0.37 0.38 0.37 0.39 0.35 0.42
Abo-Zabal Shoot 484 10.4 16.0 10.8 2.5 2.3
drain Root 1554 93.6 48.8 32.1 7.3 6.8
ratio 0.31 0.09 0.33 0.34 0.34 0.34

Table (4) Some heavy elements content (mg/kg) in water

hyacinth plant (Shoots and roots) samples.

location organ Cd Pb Hcj

Nile Shoot 0.4 9.0 0.03
Root 1.0 25.1 0.10
ratio 0.4 0.36 0.30
Ismailia Shoot 0.4 18.9 0.10
canal Root 1.2 52.7 0.20
ratio 0.33 0.36 0.50
Abo-Zabal Shoot 0.7 26.9 0.20
drain Root 2.1 74.7 0.40
ratio 0.33 0.36 0.50

Table (5) biological accumulation factor (BAF) of selected

elements in water hyacinth samples (shoots and roots) at
different water bodies.

Site Plant Biological accumulation factor ratio

part
Fe Zn Cu Pb Cd Co Ni
Nile Shoot 11 0.6 0.56 0.75 0.04 0.42 0.08
Root 30 1.6 1.52 2.09 0.10 1.47 0.24
Ismailia
canal Shoot 10 5.0 2.95 4.4 0.58 1.18 0.40
Root 27 13 8.00 12.3 1.74 3.00 1.12
Abo-
Zabal Shoot 8 0.05 1.60 0.58 0.07 1.08 0.25
Root 26 8.6 4.88 1.62 0.21 3.21 0.73
Drain

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