Phytoextraction of Cd and Zn as single or mixed pollutants from soil by rape (Brassica napus)

Abstract

This paper analyses the capacity of the rape (Brassica napus) to extract Cd and Zn from the soil and the effect of these metals on the morphometric parameters of the plant (length, weight, surface area, fractal dimension of leaves). Rape plants were mostly affected by the combined toxicity of the Cd and Zn mixture that caused a significant reduction in the rate of seed germination, the plant biomass quantity and the fractal dimension. In the case of Cd soil pollution, the bioaccumulation factor (BAF), bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC) as well as the heavy metal root-to-stalk translocation factor (TF) were determined. The results showed that B. napus had a great potential as a cadmium hyperaccumulator but not as an accumulator of Zn or Cd + Zn mixture. The efficiency of phytoextraction rape was 0.8-1.22 % for a soil heavily polluted with cadmium.

Genome-Wide Analysis of Phosphorus Transporter Genes in Brassica and Their Roles in Heavy Metal Stress Tolerance

“…Rapeseed is a good winter fallow crop and an excellent crop for remediating heavy metal pollution in soil due to its rapid growth, high biomass, and strong heavy metal tolerance due to its ability to absorb and accumulate these toxins [44,45]. Therefore, we further characterized the BnaPHT family genes, including their gene structures, motifs, localization patterns, and expression patterns ( Figures 4-8 and Table S2).…”

“…However, when the content of a heavy metal in the environment exceeds a certain critical value, it can have toxic effects on plants, disrupting plant metabolic processes, inhibiting plant growth or causing plant death [39,40]. Many species or genotypes of Brassica have a strong ability to absorb and enrich heavy metals, making them ideal for the phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils, particularly B. juncea and B. napus [39,[41][42][43][44][45]. The uptake of Pi and arsenic depends on the same transport system in plants [46][47][48].…”

Genome-Wide Characterization and Analysis of Metallothionein Family Genes That Function in Metal Stress Tolerance in Brassica napus L.

“…The absorption of these heavy metals by plants plays an important role in the entry of these metals into the food chain [42]. Further, MTs have been shown to play an important role in metal homeostasis and tolerance in plants [4,6,9,10,21,26,33,34]. Strikingly, Brassica plants exhibit efficient heavy metal uptake and translocation, as well as a high tolerance to heavy metals [31,42], and several MT genes in Brassica have been reported, especially in Indian mustard ( Brassica juncea L.) [23,27,33,53].…”

“…Brassica plants are considered to be highly tolerant to heavy metals (e.g., Cd, Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, and Se), making them ideal plants for studying metal accumulation in phytoremediation studies [24,25,26,27]. Indian mustard ( Brassica juncea) is a high-biomass-producing crop with the potential to take up and accumulate heavy metals [1,23,27,28].…”

“…However, this plant accumulates Cd less effectively than other crops such as maize ( Zea mays ), rice ( Oryza sativa ), and sugar beet ( B. vulgaris ) when it is present at low concentrations in the soil [29]. Rapeseed ( B. napus ) has many advantages for this type of analysis due to its rapid growth, high biomass productivity and efficient heavy metal absorption, and it is therefore also widely used to investigate heavy metal tolerance [26,30,31,32]. Indeed, while heavy metal tolerance has been well studied in various Brassica species, the mechanisms that contribute to the tolerance of these plants to heavy metals remain unclear.…”