Petroleum Hydrocarbons in Water, Soil and Tomato Plant (Lycopersican esculentum L.) at Basra City, Iraq

Abstract

This study focused on the determination of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH)  concentration in soil, water and tomato plant  Lycopersican esculentum L. at ( root , stem, and leaf ) and biomass of  these plant in four stations  Safwan , shuaiba , Abu Al-kasibe and Garma Ali  at Basra city, Iraq. The result show  that higher concentrations of (TPH) in the soil  and water of Safwan than other stations related to industrial , agricultural and domestic activities which released to environment contaminated to the ground water. The result also show variation in ( TPH ) between Lycopersican esculentum parts ( root , stem and leaf ) , the higher concentration was found in tomato root of  Safwan station compare to other stations and this level was highest than other parts of plant in the same station and other stations. There was positive correlation between petroleum hydrocarbons in soil and plant parts indicated that the plants obtained the TPH from the soil. The total nitrogen was high levels (2.31mg/l) in tomatoes plant in Garmat Ali station while the lowest levels (1.33mg/l ) was in shuaiba station .  Total  phosphorus was higher in Abu kasibe (0.25mg/l ) and low levels (0.11mg/l ) in  Safwan. The percentage of dry mass observed in this order Abu kasibe >  Garma Ali > Safwan >  shuaiba . The bioconcentration factor (BCF) and Translocation factor (TF) which is very important parameters to check the ability of plants for phytoremediation have been calculated.