The term heavy metal refers to any metallic chemical element that has a relatively high density and is toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. The concentrations of eight heavy metals in the old and young roots of Tamarind plant obtained from Bayara community, a suburb of Bauchi Metropolis of Bauchi State was assessed using AAS (atomic absorption spectrophotometry). AAS is a method of elemental analysis that works on the principle of radiation energy by free atoms. The concentration of an element is measured by the absorption of radiation with characteristic frequency by the atoms of an element. The result gave the concentrations (in mg/L) of the heavy metals as: Mn 0.158, Cr 0.000, Pb 0.011, Ni 0.020, Fe 0.335, Zn 0.000, Cd 0.006 and Ag 0.818 for the old roots of the plant, and Mn 0.043, Cr 0.000, Pb 0.005, Ni 0.020, Fe 0.335, Zn 0.000, Cd 0.002 and Ag 0.344 for the young roots. Proximate analysis was also carried out on the plant materials. The result of the proximate analysis gave the following: moisture content 9.39%, crude protein 4.41%, ash 10.50%, crude fibre 25.15%, fat 1.90% and carbohydrate 48.70% for the old roots of the plant; while the young roots gave moisture content 9.00%, crude protein 4.60%, ash 9.97%, crude fibre 22.10%, fat 2.10% and carbohydrate 52.23%. The replicate values for levels of the heavy metals in the old and young roots of the plant were compared using one-way ANOVA (SPSS Version 23) at 95% confidence level. The result was significantly different since the F critical is less than F calculated for Ag, Mn, Cr, & Fe. While F calculate is more for Pb, Ni, Zn & Cd.
Key words: Anova, Carbohydrate, Crude Protein, Tamarind, Root, Heavy Metals
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