Abstract
Several particular plants are suggested to extract significant parts of heavy metals from soils and accumulate them in their roots and shoots. This research aimed to study the phytoextraction of Cu by several plants from heavy-metal contaminated tropical soils. Soil samples collected from plots treated in 1998 with 0, 15 and 60 Mg industrial waste ha-1 were planted with three different plants, i.e., caisim, water spinach, and lettuce. Plant parts (roots and shoots) and soil samples were harvested after a four-week growth period and analyzed for plant and soil Cu. The results show that the growth of plants was depressed by the increase in the soil Cu (extracted by 1 N HNO3) as affected by waste levels, with water spinach being the most progressive and produced the most significant biomass. The absorption of Cu by caisim and water spinach increased with the soil extracted Cu (linear R2 = 0.71* for caisim and 0.32* for water spinach) and accumulated greater in plant roots than that in shoots. The translocation factor (TF << 1.00) indicates that all plants were good Cu phytostabilizators rather than phytoextractors, with water spinach being the best Cu extractor.
Highlights
Heavy metals in soils are in general found at low levels that are not toxic to plants, animals, and humans
The dry weight of caisim in the control plot was 0.14 g pot-1, and that in the highest waste level plot was 0.09 g pot-1, decreased by 38.1%. It was observed in water spinach and lettuce, which decreased by 52% and 100%, respectively
The uptake analysis of Cu shows that water spinach had the highest ability to absorb Cu, followed by caisim and lettuce (Figure 5)
Summary
Heavy metals in soils are in general found at low levels that are not toxic to plants, animals, and humans. The increasing concentration of heavy metals is usually caused by pollution of land around mining, industry, and modern agriculture (Priyanto and Prayitno 2006). The soil pollution may increase the heavy metal content over time (Salam 2017). As suggested by soil researchers, the accumulation of heavy metals in the soil environment can lead to a decrease in the soil microbial population and activity, the soil fertility, and the overall soil quality, and decrease the plant yield as well as cause the inclusion of the toxic materials into the food chains (Atafar et al 2010). The toxic power is to inhibit enzyme work impairing the body’s
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