Decontamination of Heavy Metals in Polluted Soil by Phytoremediation UsingBryophyllum Pinnatum

Abstract

Abstract. Phytoremediation is the use of specially selected or engineered living green plants for in situ risk reduction and/or removal of pollutants from contaminated media. This process is one of the most rapidly developing components of environmentally friendly (green) and cost-effective technology to abate environmental pollution. The risk reduction could be through the process of removal, degradation, containment of a contaminant or a combination of any of these factors. Bryophyllum pinnatum a herbally-accepted plant in some parts of the world was cultivated in ten different plastic buckets containing heavy metal polluted soil and nurtured for 20 months. The plants were left in ambient conditions and watered periodically. After the first 2 weeks, the plant and soil samples were collected and analysed for total concentration of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb V and Zn. Subsequently, the plant and soil samples were collected monthly and analysed for the total concentrations of these heavy metals, using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. Maximum extracted heavy metals from soil by plant were Cd (3.12±1.03 mg/kg), Cr (32.48±3.21 mg/kg), Cu (81.01±2.3 mg/kg) Ni (11.91±2.32 mg/kg), Pb (399.90 ±4.32 mg/kg) V (5.81±0.08 mg/kg) and Zn (150.51± 0.33) and this occurred in the 4th month of study. This study confirms B. pinnatum as one of the plants that could be employed in phytoremediation of soil polluted by heavy metals.

Phytoremediation of Copper and Zinc Contaminated Soil around Textile Industries using <i>Bryophyllum pinnatum</i> Plant

“…In their study, the total uptake by plants might be expressed in the sequence of Zn > Pb > Co. The uptake of metals by different parts of the plant showed a direction of leaves > stems > roots that might be established by that study (Ekwumemgbo et al, 2013). According to ANOVA analysis at (p<0.05) significance level, the concentration of Cu in soil, root, and stem of the Bryophyllum pinnatum plant showed significant variation in the present study.…”

“…achieve their resources through the consumption of bacteria, fungi, or plant roots (Morris and Blackwood, 2015). For the removal of heavy metals, Ekwumemgbo et al (2013), collected the soil samples from an industrial layout in Kano State, Nigeria, and analyzed for the total concentration of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn. By applying Bryophyllum pinnatum for remediation of the above mentioned heavy metals and observed the reduction of heavy metals due to phytoextraction.…”

Use of Low Cost Soil Amendments Reduces Uptake of Cadmium and Lead by Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) Grown in Medially Polluted Soils

“…The results indicate that the amount of HA amendment in the soil affects the level of uptake of lead in tobacco leaves more than cow manure [29], while for cadmium it was more effective when HA concentration in the soil is low [27,31]. Higher amounts of HA such as 5% would have produced the same effect as 2% cow manure in situations when cadmium levels are high [20,32]. Reduced uptake of heavy metals such as lead and cadmium has been reported from various other similar studies [20,29,31,[33][34][35].…”

Uptake of Pb and Cd by Plant Species: A Review

“…Therefore, Bryopyllum Pinnatum has higher phytoextraction potential for Pb than Cd in this very experiment. [6]. Most of these species demonstrated significant uptake of Pb and/or Cd, signifying their effectiveness for the phytoremediation of these heavy metals.…”