Abstract

Yousry Sadoon Rasheed, Mohammed Rawf Hussain, Mahmoud Mustafa Al-Mahdawi.

The present study estimated the concentrations of heavy metals iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb), copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) in three plant species (Mentha longifolia, Apium nodiflorum, and Nasturtium officinale) at four sites. In the province of Sulaymaniyah (Darbandikhan, Khormal, Rania, and Bakra Jaw), Iraqi Kurdistan. Samples were collected on a monthly basis from April to September 2016, with three replications for each part of the plants (root, stem, and leaves). Plant samples were prepared and digested with suitable acids to detect the concentrations of these minerals and using a Flame Absorption Spectrophotometer (FAAS). The results of the study showed that all three plant species under study have a high ability to accumulate heavy metals. The results also showed that there are differences in the concentrations of heavy metals accumulated in the tissues of the plant species under study, as the order of the plant species was descending, M. longifolia � N. officinale → A. nodiflorum, the study also showed that there are differences in the concentrations of heavy metals accumulating in the different plant parts and for all plant species. As the arrangement of the plant parts in terms of the ability of each part to accumulate heavy metals was descending in the roots - the leaves - the stems, the concentrations of heavy metals accumulated in the plant species, clear differences were recorded between the four sites under study, as the highest values ​​were recorded in the species developing in the Joe Reel � Rania � Darbandikhan � Khormal. Through the results of the current study, it was also found that there are differences between the months of the study regarding the ability of plants to accumulate heavy metals within their tissues, as the highest values ​​of heavy metal concentrations in plants were recorded in April and May compared to the months with higher temperatures.