Evaluating Different Weeds for Phytoremediation Potential Available in Tannery Polluted Area by Conducting Pot and Hydroponic Experiments

Abstract

The pot experiments were conducted to determine and compare the toxic effects of Chromium, Copper, Cadmium, Nickel and Lead on different parameters like shoot length, number of branches and area of leaf on different wild weedCannabis sativa, Solanumnigrum and Chenopodium album. The investigated amounts of metal were in the range of 7 different concentrations i.e. 5ppm, 10ppm,50ppm,100ppm,200ppm,300ppm and 350ppm.The average toxicity increases with increase in the concentration of metals but in certain cases variations were observed in toxicity parameters. The morphological response in Cannabis sativa showed that most of the changes on the morphological characteristics were observed at 100 ppm. The shoot length, leaf area and number of branches decrease at 100 ppm and above. The maximum variations as compared to other metals were shown in copper stress condition. In Chenopodium album all the metals except lead show morphological variation with increase in metal concentration. The morphological toxicity increases with increase in metal concentration. The overall pollen fertility analysis shows that metal exposure leads to the development of sterile pollens. This shows the relative toxic effect of metals on the pollen fertility. In the hydroponic experiments, the Chromium metal exposure on the weed Cannabis sativa(C) and (P) for 15 days shows decrease in the amount of Chromium in the medium detected throughdiphenylcarbazide method, which shows the hyper accumulation of chromium by these weeds.