SOIL-PLANT TRANSFER FACTORS OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS IN Artemisia campestris L. (ASTERACEAE) USING INAA TECHNIQUE

Artemisia campestris L. (Asteraceae) a perennial medicinal herb growing in arid steppe of Algeria has been studied to determine the uptake and translocation of some major, minor and trace elements from soil to plant. Instrumental neutron activation analysis has been employed to determine the chemical elements in different parts of the plant and in the soil in which the plant was grown. As, Co, Cs, Eu, Hf, La, Lu, Sc, Sm, Th, Yb were found to be present at trace levels. Br, Ba, Fe, Zn have been detected at minor levels, however shoots of this plant contain Ca, K and Na as major elements. The study showed that toxic heavy metals such as Cd, Pb, Hg were detected in the samples except As which is below the limit value. The elemental transfer from soil to plant showed enrichment of Na. The accuracy of the data was measured by analyzing the CRMs Eastern sediment (NIST-164a) and Lichen (IAEA 336).