Heavy Metals Accumulation in Banana (Musa spp.) Leaves from Industrial Area in Rio de Janeiro

Banana plants (Musa spp.) are a common fruit crop in tropical and subtropical region, being adapted to extensive area in Brazil. Besides their fruits, the banana leaves also offer nutritional, medicinal benefits, and may absorb and retain different heavy metals, acting as biomonitors for the assessment of heavy metal pollution in the environment. In this work, the concentrations of Aluminum (Al), Cadmium (Cd), Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Lead (Pb), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), and Zinc (Zn) were analyzed from banana plants cultivated near the Industrial District of Santa Cruz in the West Zone of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The leaves samples were dried, chopped, and submitted to acid digestion with nitric acid for metal quantification by optical emission spectrometers with inductively coupled plasma (ICP-OES) according to standard methods. When compared to chemical fingerprinting of different plant species, the banana leaves contain higher concentration of Al (1,190.57 ± 120.83 mg.kg-1) and Mn (811.82 ± 422.01 mg.kg-1) than the plant reference values. The concentration measurements for heavy metal contents of Cd (0.09 ± 0.05 mg.kg-1), Co (0.15 ± 0.09 mg.kg-1), Cu (5.86 ± 2.34 mg.kg-1), Fe (89.22 ± 16.47 mg.kg-1), Pb (1.54 ± 0.90 mg.kg-1), Ni (3.10 ± 0.30 mg.kg-1), and Zn (50.80 ± 13.90 mg.kg-1) were also determined and are similar to reference values. Although it is complex to distinguish the origin of the heavy metals, bananas leaves can be used for environmental pollution detection and monitoring. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17807/orbital.v10i4.1054