Abstract
Present study was conducted to investigate the Cadmium (Cd) phytoextraction potential of two plants (Veronica anagallis-aquatic and Epilobium laxum Royle) for Cd removal from induced saline water. In hydroponic system, various concentrations of the Cd (50, 100, and 150 ppm) and NaCl salt (1000, 3000, and 6000 ppm) were used alone and in various combinations to evaluate the effect of salt (NaCl) concentrations on Cd absorption and accumulation in Veronica anagallis and Epilobium plants. The Cd at higher concentrations (100 and 150 ppm) significantly reduced the growth and biomass of both plants and addition of salt (NaCl) to growth media (Hoagland solution) further reduced the growth. The Cadmium (Cd) translocation factor (TF) of Epilobium plant was more than one (1), while the Veronica plant showed translocation factor less than 0.5. Veronica plant showed higher Bio-concentration factor (BCF) as more than 3.5 and Epilobium plant demonstrated Bio-concentration factor less than 1 (BCF 1 is a threshold limit for a plant to be hyper-accumulator of Cd). Conclusively, the Veronica anagallis plant is reported as Cd hyper-accumulator, while Epilobium laxum plant as non hyper-accumulator on the basis of BCF values in the present findings. Further study on Veronica and Epilobium plants is recommended.
Highlights
Water is essential for survival and existence of life
Cadmium induced the significant reduction in root and stem length of Veronica plant when the treatments having Cd (C1 = 50, C2 = 100 and C3 = 150 ppm) were compared with the control without Cd (C) as shown in Table 2 and Figure 1(a)
The reduction in plant growth might be due to the effect of cadmium on nutrient uptake and distribution within the plant cell [17] and its harmful effect on the permeability of plasma membrane, decreasing the cells elongation and growth [18]
Summary
Water is essential for survival and existence of life. The increasing competition for clean water, due to ever increasing demand for drinking and irrigation water, resulted in a steady and irreversible spread of salinization disturbing fresh water reservoirs mostly in arid and semiarid regions of the world [1]. The water and soil salinity problem and their pollution with heavy metals which may be intensified in future, and severity of toxic effect in plants will be increased [7]. The removal of toxic heavy metals from contaminated water is of great importance and needs an effective and affordable technological solution. Plants have the natural ability to absorb any thing dissolved in water solution by its roots and this ability of plants can be exploited for the decontamination of heavy metals contaminated water. Many researchers have investigated different aspects of the process of metals removal from water, such as the degree of toxicity of these metals causing harm to plants [13] [14], the use of plants as bio-filters for polluted water [15] and the bio-monitoring of metals [16]
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