DOI: 10.36347/sajb.2020.v08i06.008

Pages: 176-182

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of two digestion methods in determining heavy metal concentrations in a moss species. Samples of the moss Barbula lambaranensis were collected from seven major roadsides in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. In each location, three subsamples were collected and pooled to form a composite sample. Each was then divided into two parts. The moss samples were cleaned of extraneous material, oven dried at 500C for 24 hrs and digested using two different digestion methods namely dry digestion and wet digestion to recommend the more efficient digestion method. Digested samples were analysed for six heavy metals namely iron (Fe), nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) using atomic absorption spectrometry. Results revealed that both digestion methods gave similar and comparable results. Total mean concentrations (mg/kg) of Fe, Ni, Cu, Cr and Pb in the moss samples were 2758.57, 3.06, 18.93, 1.78 and 0.58 respectively using dry digestion method while mean concentrations of Fe (3409.05), Ni (3.56), Cu (20.37), Cr (2.21) and Pb (0.61) were observed in the moss samples using wet digestion method. Cadmium was below detection limits in both cases. Statistical analyses revealed that there were no significant differences between the concentrations of the heavy metals obtained by both digestion methods. This indicates that both digestion methods are equally precise and reliable for the preparation of moss samples for heavy metal analysis.