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Abstract

Overuse of vehicles causes heavy metal pollution which lead to a negative effect on the soil and vegetation grown along roadside. Present study aims to examine the effect of vehicular metal pollution on soil and wild plants grown along roadside i.e., Cannabis sativa L., Parthenium hysterophorus L., Cynodon dactylon L, Calotropis procera (Ait.) Ait. F. and Ricinus communis L. Triplicates of samples were collected from roadsides and control of four sites i.e. G.T road, Jalalpur Road, Shahdiwal road, and Sargodha-road of Gujrat Pakistan. Soil and plant samples were analyzed to determine Cu2+, Cd2+, Ni2+ and Cr2+ using AAS (atomic absorption spectroscopy) after acid digestion. Results revealed that the soil and plants of roadside were contaminated with Ni as compared to the control while Cr, Cd, and Cu were absent in both soil and plant samples. The highest Ni concentration, 0.0899 ppm, was found in Ricinus communis at site 1, whereas no Ni was detected in the control. Metal pollution reduced photosynthetic pigments and protein in roadside plants compared to control by 29% chlorophyll a, 45% chlorophyll b, 40% carotenoids and 37.86% soluble protein content. While increase in antioxidant activity (CAT, POD, SOD) was observed in roadside plants due to metal stress in order of SOD>POD>CAT. It is concluded that vehicular metal stress shows negative correlation with photosynthetic pigments and total soluble protein content while positive correlation with antioxidant enzymes (Catalase, Peroxidase and Superoxide dismutase) in roadside plants as compared to control. The translocation and accumulation factor concluded that Calotropis procera and Ricinus Communis had high adaptability factor to grow in metal contaminated sites. It is concluded that vehicular-driven metal pollution, particularly Ni contamination, significantly (p<0.05) affects the physiological and biochemical attributes of roadside plants. However, Calotropis procera and Ricinus communis exhibit considerable tolerance and phytoremediation potential under metal stressed conditions

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