Abstract—Heavy metals, such as lead, have caused deleterious effect not only to the environment, but also to the public’s health. In the Philippines, the ornamental plant Bougainvillea has been planted on the main roads of cities due to its capacity to thrive in heavily polluted areas. Studies show that Bougainvillea may be utilized to reduce heavy metal pollution through absorption and adsorption in soil and air, respectively. In this study, the plant’s leaves were used to measure the lead accumulated, adsorbed and absorbed from two cities in Metro Manila, specifically Las Piñas and Manila. The lead concentration of the plant and its soil was measured through Flameless Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AA-6300, Shimadzu, France), and the duration of measurement lasted for nine months with four time periods (0, 3, 6 and 9th month-interval). Two-way t-test and ANOVA were used to analyze the data gathered. It was found that there is no sufficient evidence to conclude that lead content of the plants in Manila differs significantly from that of Las Piñas. Moreover, results show that Bougainvillea lead uptake may vary depending on various environmental factors, such as concentration of lead in soil, climatic condition, degree of heavy metal pollution and complexes of lead form in other soil components.

Index Terms—Bougainvillea, flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy, heavy metals, lead absorption ability.

Karen Ann Marie M. Dela Cruz is with UP Saliksikan para sa Kalikasan (SALIKASAN), Philippines (e-mail: karenannster@gmail.com).

 

Cite:Karen Ann Marie M. Dela Cruz, Sandra Dawn G. Burgos, Mac Ardy J. Gloria, Khristie Michelle D. Ventura, and Judilyn Solidum, "Comparison of Lead Absorption Ability of Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea Spectabilis L.) Leaves in Two Cities in Metro Manila, Philippines," International Journal of Bioscience, Biochemistry and Bioinformatics vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 192-195, 2013.