Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-018-2033-z ORIGINAL PAPER Efect of near‑road soil contamination on Solanum lycopersicum L., Cicer arietinum L. and Cucumis sativus L. C. Mbadra 1  · K. Gargouri 1  · H. Ben Mbarek 1  · L. Trabelsi 1  · A. Arous 1  · S. Ellouz Chaabouni 2 Received: 26 March 2018 / Revised: 27 August 2018 / Accepted: 24 September 2018 © Islamic Azad University (IAU) 2018 Abstract The present research assessed soil contamination along the roadside in the central littoral region of Tunisia. Road Gremda (toward the northwest), road Manzel Chaker (toward the southwest) and road Tunis (toward the north) were chosen for this study. Fourteen stations located on diferent road sides were sampled. Soil samples were analyzed for Pb, Zn, Cu, Cr and Fe. The range of the metals was as follows: Pb 1.23–88 µg/g, Zn 1.23–295.2 µg/g, Cu 3.8–11.04 µg/g, Fe 1972.7–3647.9 µg/g and Cr 10.8–32.2 µg/g. Iron is an abundant element in the Earth’s crust, and it was considered in this work as a reference for naturally occurring metals and was used in the determination of geoaccumulation index. Soil metallic contamination afected the percentage and kinetic of germination of tomato and chickpea, whereas these parameters did not afect cucumber. Contamination of soil by the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons reaching 1550 mg/kg afected only the rate of germination of tomato and chickpea. Cucumber showed a resistance to both of metals and polycyclic hydrocarbons which can attest the resistance of this species. The hydrocarbon content recorded in the soil afected shoot elongation of tomato, while the metal contamination afected the root elongation of this species. In contrast, cucumber showed resistance to both types of pollut- ants. This species has shown an accumulation of Pb, Zn and Cr, especially when germinated on Gremda soil. Keywords Heavy metals · Hydrocarbons · Plant germination · Road trafc pollution · Soil contamination Introduction Road pollution mainly causes air pollution by the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants. Road trafc, corro- sion of vehicles and road infrastructure are the sources of environmental contamination by trace metals, such as Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Cr and Ni and polycyclic aromatic hydrocar- bons (PAHs) such as phenanthrene, pyrene, chrysene and benzo[a]pyrene (Akan et al. 2013). Trace metals (TMs) and PAHs are among the most abun- dant and potentially harmful pollutants found in polluted soils. Their hazard has increased due to rapid urbaniza- tion and industrialization. These pollutants have diferent chemical properties, and previous studies have indicated that they also have diferent mechanisms of toxic action on soils and plants (Akan et al. 2013). Metal concentrations in soil range from less than 1 µg/kg to as high as 100.000 µg/g, whether due to the geological origin of the soil or as a result of human activity (Blaylock and Huang 2000). The level of heavy metals along the roadside soils varies with many factors such as the particle size distribution, the presence or absence of organic matter in the sediments, the distance from the road and the predominant direction of the wind (Pagotto 1999). Plants absorb soil contaminants through the root system and store them in the root biomass or transport them up into the stems and/or leaves (McBride et al. 2014). Plants can represent excellent indicators to assess pollut- ant toxicity. After uptake from the soil, metals are mostly sequestered into the vacuoles of roots and shoot tissues. Essential metals, like Fe and Zn, are transported to seeds via the phloem. Moreover, TMs can have harmful efects on plant seed germination (Habtamu et al. 2013). Seed germi- nation depends on both internal and external conditions. Pol- lutants’ concentration within aqueous solution may inhibit seed germination depending on the plant species and variety Editorial responsibility: Josef Trögl. * K. Gargouri kamel.gargouri@iresa.agrinet.tn 1 Olive Institute, University of Sfax, Road Aeroport Km2, PB 1087, 3000 Sfax, Tunisia 2 National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax, Road Soukra Km 4, Sfax, Tunisia