Potential of Calabash (Lagenaria siceraria) and Sweet Potato (Solanum tuberosum) for the Remediation of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane-Contaminated Soils in Tanzania

Abstract

A study was conducted to test the potential of calabash, sweet potato, pumpkin, simsim and finger millet to phytoaccumulate dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and its metabolites from NHC Morogoro- and PPO Tengeru-contaminated sites. Parallel field and screenhouse-potted soil experiments were performed to assess the efficacy with which the test plants phytoaccumulate DDT from the soil. In the screenhouse experiment, treatments were laid out following a split-plot arrangement in a completely randomized design (CRD), with the main plots comprising two DDT concentration levels–low (417 mg kg−1) or high (2308 mg kg−1)—and the plant species Cucurbita pepo, Lagenaria siceraria, Ipomoea batatus, Sesamum indicum and Eleusine coracana were considered as subplots. A field experiment with the same crop species as the treatments was laid out in a randomized complete block design, and both experiments were performed in triplicate. In addition to determining the concentration of persistent organic pesticides in the soil profile, parameters such as the total DDT uptake by plants, shoot weight and shoot height were monitored in both potted soil and open field experiments. Overall, calabash and sweet potato exhibited the highest (4.63 mg kg−1) and second highest (3.45 mg kg−1) DDT concentrations from the high residual DDT potted soil experiment. A similar trend was observed when the two plants were grown in low DDT soil. Sweet potato recorded the highest shoot height and weight in the potted soil experiments, indicating that increasing amounts of DDT had a minimal effect on the plant’s growth. Although sweet potato outperformed calabash in the amounts of DDT concentration in the shoots under open field experiments, the uptake of DDT by calabash was the second highest. Calabash—a wild non-edible plant in Tanzania—presents a potential phytoremediation alternative to edible and much studied pumpkin.