Accumulation of heavy metals and arsenic with medicinal herbal raw material of common shovel harvested in Voronezh region

Abstract

The Voronezh region is traditionally the most important area of crop production and agriculture. The purpose of the research was to study the contamination with heavy metals of medicinal plant raw materials of the Voronezh region using the example of the roots of ordinary burdock, prepared in urbo- and agro-ecosystems, which have various anthropogenic effects on themselves. The accumulation of heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, nickel, copper, zinc, cobalt, chromium) and arsenic in 51 samples of raw materials was studied. By comparing the heavy metal content in the upper soil layers of the region and the content of these elements in the roots of the bladder, it can be assumed that there are significant physiological barriers to the accumulation of ecotoxicants in the roots of the bladder, which is especially noticeable for elements such as lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, cobalt and chromium. At the same time, this type of medicinal vegetal raw material is able to selectively concentrate some heavy metals included in the active centers of enzyme systems (copper and zinc). Thus, for an ordinary bladder under conditions of anthropogenic load, an edaphotype is formed, which is as a result of selection in conditions of anthropogenic pollution of the external environment and the manifestation of adaptation to these conditions.