Assessment of seasonal variation for air pollutant accumulation by Zizyphus tree under washing treatment Mohamed Abdulraheem Shaheen & Fathy Saad El-Nakhlawy & Fahd Mosallam Almehmadi & Muhammad Zahid Ihsan & Abdulmohsin Rajeh Al-Shareef Received: 18 December 2015 /Accepted: 5 May 2016 /Published online: 11 May 2016 # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 Abstract A field study was carried out near Jeddah Industrial Zone to estimate the leaf impairment, physio- logical disorders, and air pollutant accumulation poten- tial of Ziziphus tree. The experiment was triplicated in RCBD design with factorial arrangement having sea- sonality as the main plot and washing as subplot treat- ments along with the control. Accumulation of heavy metals and micronutrients in plant foliage varied signif- icantly under the influence of seasons and washing treatments. The maximum accumulation of cadmi- um, chromium, nickel, and lead were perceived in summer season while the minimum was observed in winter. Contrarily, a greater acquisition of iron, copper, zinc, and manganese was observed in au- tumn. Washing significantly reduced the accumu- lation of Cd, Cr, Ni, and Pb by 58, 90, 80, and 96 %, while Fe, Cu, Zn, and Mn by 89, 37, 60, and 93 %, respectively. Leaf protein and nitrogen content illustrated a greater adjustment for pollutants by presenting a minimum variation (14–18 % and 2–3 %) to seasonality. In contrast, leaf area and stomatal aperture were significantly disturbed and resulted in minimum recovery under washing. Correlation analysis revealed a stronger negative interaction of heavy metal accumulation to leaf features while non-significant interaction was perceived for microelements. In conclusion, planting of Ziziphus trees along industrial areas may impede potential threats of toxic pollutants to human and ecosystem. Keywords Industrial pollutants . Lead . Leaf protein . Phytoremediation . Correlation coefficient . Air pollutant Abbreviations ANOVA Analysis of variance GACA General Authority of Civil Aviation ICP-MS Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry ICP- OES Inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy JDURC Jeddah Development and Urban Regenera- tion Company LSD Least significant difference PM Particulate matter PME Presidency of Meteorology and Environment RCBD Randomized complete block design ROS Reactive oxygen species SGS Saudi geological survey VOCs Volatile organic compounds Environ Monit Assess (2016) 188: 343 DOI 10.1007/s10661-016-5354-8 M. A. Shaheen : F. S. El-Nakhlawy : M. Z. Ihsan (*) Arid Land Agriculture Department, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80208, 21589 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia e-mail: zahidihsan_kau@hotmail.com F. M. Almehmadi Environmental Sciences Department, Faculty of Meteorology, Environment and Arid Land Agriculture, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia A. R. Al-Shareef Geography and Information System Department, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia