Abstract
High concentrations of heavy metals are harmful to plants, animals and humans and their potential accumulation in human tissues and bio-magnification through the food chain cause serious health hazards. An experiment was conducted in the glasshouse to evaluate the potential of Dyera costulata as a bioaccumulator to absorb heavy metals from sewage sludge contaminated soils. D. costulataseedlings were planted in the following growth media: T0 (control soil), T1 (100% sludge), T2 (80% sludge + 20% soil), T3 (60% sludge + 40% soil), T4 (40% sludge + 60% soil) and T5 (20% sludge + 80% soil). T4 showed the best growth performance in terms of height, basal diameter and number of leaves. The maximum reduction of Cd, Cr and Pb was found in the 100% sludge treatment. Zn, Cd, Ni and Cr were highly concentrated in the leaves, while Pb accumulated mainly in the stems. D. costulata showed high potential to retain high amounts of Zn, Ni and Cr in the leaves and Pb in the stems. The species had high translocation factor (TF) and low bioconcentration factor (BCF) values in the soil at higher metal concentrations as well as it was able to tolerate and accumulate high concentrations of Zn, Cd, Ni, Cr and Pb. It means that, this species is a good accumulator of heavy metals and can be considered as a potential bioaccumulator species. Key words: Phytoremediation, Dyera costulata, heavy metals, sewage sludge.
Highlights
Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most widespread and serious environmental problems nowadays
High concentrations of heavy metals are harmful to plants, animals and humans and their potential accumulation in human tissues and bio-magnification through the food chain cause serious health hazards
An experiment was conducted in the glasshouse to evaluate the potential of Dyera costulata as a bioaccumulator to absorb heavy metals from sewage sludge contaminated soils
Summary
Heavy metal pollution has become one of the most widespread and serious environmental problems nowadays. Soil and water contamination with toxic metal pose a major environmental and human health problem and has been drawing considerable public attention over the last decades. Other sources of heavy metal contamination associated with agricultural soil are sewage sludge, fertilizer and pesticides (Alloway and Ayres, 1993). The concentrations of heavy metals in soils are related with the biological and geochemical cycles and are influenced by anthropogenic activities, such as agricultural practices, transport, industrial activities and waste disposal (Lund, 1990). It is a well known fact that, metals are present in soils in different chemical forms, which influence their reactivity and their mobility and bioavailability. When the concentrations of heavy metals become too high to allow the soil to limit their potential effects contaminants cannot be removed, resulting in serious contamination of agricultural products or ground water
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