Investigation of Bioaccumulation Efficiency of Turkish Tobaccos by Evaluating their Heavy Metal Contents in Relation to their Origin

Effectiveness and efficiency of exploiting tobacco for bioremediation is examined for cadmium, copper, manganese and zinc. The concentrations of these HMs were determined both in the tobacco plants and soil samples. The collected samples were digested via wet ashing technique by using HNO3-HClO4 for plant samples and HF-HClO4 for soil samples. Flame atomic absorption spectrometry was used for sample analysis. The regression coefficients were above 0.99 and the detection limits were in the range of 0.03-0.12 mg. L1. Performance and accuracy of the method were determined and the values found were in agreement with the standard values for the heavy metals analyzed. Bioconcentration factors (BCFs) were calculated. It was found that tobacco plants from cities on the Mediterranean and the Aegean regions had the highest concentration of HMs and BCFs. It was concluded that the characteristics of the soils the tobacco plants are raised influence the metal uptake capacity of the plants, but tobacco can be used as good bioaccumulator for HMs.