Determination of copper, zinc and lead contents in sunflower plants

Trace elements are considered to be one of the main sources of pollution in the environment since they have a significant effect on its ecological quality. The determination of trace elements in plant samples is very important in monitoring environmental pollution. Recently, both international and the Turkish studies have drawn attention to the metal pollution of plant specimens. But, such a study has not been yet carried out in Corlu, Turkey. In this study the concentrations of trace elements (copper, zinc and lead) in the sunflower plants collected from Corlu, Turkey, were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS). In the determinations by FAAS, a standard addition technique was used because of the influence of possible interference present in the sample tested. The area of the study included the textile factories in the vicinity of Corlu, which is a developing industrial center in the Trakya zone, Turkey. In addition, sunflower plants are the plants most grown in Corlu. The sunflower plants collected from the locations were broken into plants parts (root, stern, leaves, head, seed), washed with distilled water and dried at 110 degrees C for 24 h. Then plant parts were digested by wet ashing procedures. The concentrations of Cu, Zn and Ph elements in plant parts were determined by FAAS. The Cu concentrations were 3.25 +/- 0.09, 2.30 +/- 0.05, 7.80 +/- 0.20, 4.70 +/- 0,11 and 11.25 +/- 0.12 ing kg(-1), the Zn concentrations were 5.15 +/- 0.17, 18.8 +/- 0.69, 20.3 +/- 0.45, 2.35 +/- 0.06 and 40.4 +/- 0.33 mg kg(-1) in root, stern, leaf, head and seed, respectively. The lead concentrations were not detected by FAAS because of the very low analyte concentration. The obtained results were compared to those in literature.