Effect of Environmental Pollution on Heavy Metals Content of Withania somnifera

Overview

Khan, Ahmad, and Rahman measured chromium, lead, copper, cadmium, iron, nickel, and manganese in Withania somnifera plant parts collected from three locations in N.W.F.P./Peshawar Valley, Pakistan. The paper is occurrence evidence for botanical raw material used in traditional medicine, with paired soil measurements as collection-site context. The source reports total elemental metals by atomic absorption spectrophotometry; chromium is total chromium (Cr), not hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI).

Key numbers

All values below are from Table 1 and are reported in mg/kg. The paper’s discussion prints mg/kg for the tabulated concentrations; no wet/dry conversion is applied here. nd means the paper reports “not detected.”

Paired soil rows are collection-site context and should not be pooled as botanical-product occurrence.

The discussion highlights the same table maxima in plant tissues, including Cr 0.10 mg/kg in Spot 1 leaves, lead (Pb) 0.46 mg/kg in Spot 1 stems, Cu 0.40 mg/kg in Spot 1 leaves, cadmium (Cd) 0.06 mg/kg in Spot 1 stems, Fe 19.74 mg/kg in Spot 1 leaves, nickel (Ni) 0.17 mg/kg in Spot 1 leaves, and Mn 6.27 mg/kg in Spot 1 leaves.

Methods (brief)

The authors collected Withania somnifera from different locations of Peshawar Valley, authenticated the plant material at the PCSIR Labs herbarium, washed the samples with tap and distilled water, dried them at 60 °C, and milled the dried material through a 1.3 mm stainless-steel sieve. One-gram portions were dry-ashed for 24 hours at a temperature not exceeding 500 °C, treated with 20% HCl, filtered, diluted to 100 mL, and analyzed for Cr, Pb, Cu, Cd, Fe, Ni, and Mn using a Perkin Elmer atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The source reports total elemental metals; it does not report arsenic, mercury, or chromium speciation.

Implications

The paper contributes Pakistan occurrence data for herbal-botanical raw material, especially plant-part-specific Pb, Cd, Ni, and total Cr measurements in Withania somnifera. The paired soil values support a soil-to-plant collection-context note, but only the roots, stems, leaves, and fruits should be considered botanical occurrence rows.

Related evidence

• Ingredient class — botanicals/herbs/traditional formulas
• Herbal botanicals
• Dried Herbs
• Chromium
• Lead
• Copper
• Cadmium
• Iron
• Nickel
• Manganese

Update history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page, classified major (evidence or structure moved), correction (a published value or statement was wrong and has been fixed), or minor (narrative rewritten without changing the underlying evidence). Each description is derived from what the edit did to this page; the linked commit is the authoritative record, routine regeneration passes are excluded, and the full version history lives in git.