Study of the accumulation of contaminants by Cyperus alternifolius, Lemna minor, Eichhornia crassipes, and Canna × generalis in some contaminated aquatic environments.

Abstract

Today, environmental pollution, especially heavy metal pollution, is known as a new and possibly more dangerous pollutant than other environmental ones. For this purpose, the uptake of four aquatic plants in different environments was chosen. In this experiment, four macrophytes, i.e., umbrella palm (Cyperus alternifolius), duckweed (Lemna minor), water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes), and canna (Canna × generalis), were studied in five contaminated aquatic environments, i.e., Gohar Rood river, Zarjoob river, Eynak lagoon, Anzali lagoon, and control solution (containing Cd, Cr, Pb, and Zn). The results showed that the highest uptake rates of cadmium, cobalt, vanadium, chromium, zinc, nickel, and lead were observed for duckweed fronds. The highest bioconcentration factor (BCF) of nickel was related to duckweed stem and water hyacinth root, and the highest BCF of cadmium belonged to duckweed fronds and canna root. The highest rate of uptake of cadmium, chromium, zinc, and lead was related to control. The least amount of uptake of several metals by plants was obtained from the water of Gohar Rood and Zarjoob. Generally, based on the results of this study, it can be stated that duckweed is suitable for the uptake of most heavy metals.