Phytoremediation of heavy metal‐contaminated water and sediment by Eleocharis acicularis

Abstract

Research Article Phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated water and sediment by Eleocharis acicularisPhytoremediation is an environmental remediation technique that takes advantage of plant physiology and metabolism. The unique property of heavy metal hyperaccumulation by the macrophyte Eleocharis acicularis is of great significance in the phytoremediation of water and sediments contaminated by heavy metals at mine sites. In this study, a field cultivation experiment was performed to examine the applicability of E. acicularis to the remediation of water contaminated by heavy metals. The highest concentrations of heavy metals in the shoots of E. acicularis were 20 200 mg Cu/kg, 14 200 mg Zn/kg, 1740 mg As/kg, 894 mg Pb/kg, and 239 mg Cd/kg. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb in the shoots correlate with their concentrations in the soil in a log-linear fashion. The bioconcentration factor for these elements decreases log-linearly with increasing concentration in the soil. The results indicate the ability of E. acicularis to hyperaccumulate Cu, Zn, As, and Cd under natural conditions, making it a good candidate species for the phytoremediation of water contaminated by heavy metals.

Review: Nutritional ecology of heavy metals

“…It is perceived as an acceptable, cost-effective and efficient, novel technology with acceptability among the communities. The proper plants for removal heavy metals should have the following components: (i) high growth rate, (ii) highly branched and widely distributed root system, (iii) good adaptation to prevailing environmental and climatic conditions, (iv) easy cultivation and harvest, (v) production of more above-ground biomass, (vi) resistance to pathogens and pests, (vii) more accumulation of the target heavy metals from soil, (viii) translocation of the accumulated heavy metals from roots to shoots and (ix) tolerance to the toxic effects of the target heavy metals (Sakakibara et al, 2011;Shabani and Sayadi, 2012;Ali et al, 2013;Maric et al, 2013). Phytoremediation comprises several techniques that use plants and associated microbes to remediate contaminated matrices, which are removed through transfer, containment, accumulation or dissipation.…”

Influence of Soil Chemistry and Plant Physiology in the Phytoremediation of Cu, Mn, and Zn

“…The duckweed Lemna minor, the macrophyte Azolla pinnata and the water crowfoot Ranunculus tricophyllus also show accumulation of Cu, suggesting that all three species can be used for remediation of this metal in polluted waters (Vaseem and Banerjee, 2012). Furthermore, Eleocharis acicularis can accumulate a maximum of 20200 μg g −1 of Cu in its shoots, suggesting great potential for use in the phytoremediation of water environments (Sakakibara et al, 2011). The amphibious water plant Crassula helmsii can also hyperaccumulate Cu (Kupper et al, 2009).…”

Effects of Soil Rhizosphere Aeration on the Root Growth and Water Absorption of Tomato

“…At the latter stage, the tomato root activity decreased as the root reached senescence, during which the root activity between the treatments was not significant. Rhizosphere ventilation treatments could significantly enhance root activity [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], increase root absorption capacity [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and promote the growth of aerial parts of tomato. The effects of ventilation treatment in the M soil moisture treatment on root activity were relatively larger, indicating that the appropriate combination of water vapor can effectively promote tomato root growth, thus contributing to promote the tomato plant height, stem diameter, and leaf area growth [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29].…”