Pollution

Pollution

Assessment of Selected Heavy Metals in Concentrations in Water and Azolla Samples Collected from Different Regions in Iraq

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors
Department of Biology, College of Education for Pure Sciences, University of Diyala, Iraq
10.22059/poll.2026.415029.3344
Abstract
This study was performed on the aquatic plant Azolla, an aquatic fern. A measure of the concentrations of the heavy metals Cadmium, Copper, Iron, Nickel, and Lead in the plants and water samples, which were chosen from three different regions: Baghdad, Al-Ghalibiya, and Khan-Bani-Saad. The results showed higher measurements in the plant compared to the water. The highest value in the plant was for Cadmium in the Al-Khan region at 0.653 ppm, while the highest result for Copper was in the Azolla plant from the Baghdad region, reaching 0.800 ppm. On the contrary, the highest value for Iron in the Azolla plant was in the Al-Khan region, reaching 2.283 ppm. In the Al-Khan region, the highest value for Nickel was 0.316 ppm for the Azolla plant. The measurement of Lead showed the highest percentage present in the plant from the Al-Ghalibiya region at 1.100 ppm. The results for DO, Tw, TDS and pH showed their highest values of 10.033 mg/l-1 , 20.233 °C, 643.333 ppm, and 8.080, in the same order, in the Al-Ghalibiya region. It is obvious from the heavy metal results that there is an increase in the density of these elements in the plants compared to the water, referring to the plant's ability to absorb these elements from its environment.
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