S. Gajalakshmi, V. Iswarya, R. Ashwini, G. Divya, S. Mythili and A. Sathiavelu
Medicinal plants were the potent source of therapeutic molecules to heal various diseases in the world. The amount of heavy metals in the plants was analyzed to show the potential threat of their effects to the animals and human beings who consume them as such or their derived products. The work is much more beneficial as the actual nutrient content of the medicinal plants in terms of the essential trace elements could also be identified. The concentration levels (mg/l) of the selected trace metals (Ni, Cu, Cr, Zn, Mn, Pb) were estimated in some of the important herbal plants of the Vellore district. The atomic absorption spectrophotometer was employed for the estimation of heavy metals of four different plant species that were collected from different locations within Vellore district. The plants selected for the analysis were Emblica officinalis, Phyllanthus emblica, Azadirachta indica and Balanites aegyptiaca. The metal contents in the samples were determined and was found that Emblica officinalis has the level of metals in the range of Cu>Cr>Mn>Zn, Phyllanthus emblica Cu>Cr>Zn>Mn, Azadirachta indica has Cu>Zn>Cr>Mn and Balanites aegyptiaca has Cu>Mn>Zn>Cr. Nickel and lead was found completely absent in all the four plants investigated.
