Phytoremediation Potential of Kenaf (Hibiscus Cannabinus L.), Mesta (Hibiscus Sabdariffa L.), and Jute (Corchorus Capsularis L.) in Arsenic-Contaminated Soil
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Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture Korean J Environ Agric. 2016;35(2):111-120. English Online ISSN: 2233-4173 Published online 2016 June 17. http://dx.doi.org/10.5338/KJEA.2016.35.2.15 Print ISSN: 1225-3537 Research Article Open Access Phytoremediation Potential of Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), Mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), and Jute (Corchorus capsularis L.) in Arsenic-contaminated Soil M. Uddin Nizam1, M. Wahid-U-Zzaman2, M. Mokhlesur Rahman2 and Jang-Eok Kim3* (1Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Patuakhali Science and Technology University, Patuakhali-8602, Bangladesh, 2Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh, 3School of Applied Biosciences, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea) Received: 20 April 2016 / Revised: 26 May 2016 / Accepted: 11 June 2016 ORCID Copyright ⓒ 2016 The Korean Society of Environmental Agriculture Jang-Eok Kim This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1412-9393 Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract order of kenaf cv. HC-3 > kenaf cv. HC-95 > mesta cv. Samu-93 > jute cv. CVE-3 > jute cv. BJC-7370. All BACKGROUND: Arsenic (As)-contaminated groundwater varieties of kenaf, mesta, and jute could be considered for an used for long-term irrigation has emerged as a serious appropriate green plant-based remediation technology in problem by adding As to soils. Phytoremediation potential As-contaminated soil. of fiber crops viz., kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), and jute (Corchorus capsularis Key words: Arsenic, Contaminated soil, Jute (Corchorus L.) was studied to clean up As-contaminated soil. capsularis L.), Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), Mesta METHODS AND RESULTS: Varieties of three fiber crops (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), Phytoremediation were selected in this study. Seeds of kenaf, mesta, and jute varieties were germinated in As-contaminated soil. Uptake Introduction of As by shoot was significantly higher than that by root in the contaminated soil. In As-contaminated soil, kenaf and Phytoremediation is an effective, low-cost, and mesta varieties accumulated more As, than did jute promising new method that uses green plants to clean varieties. In the plant parts above ground, mainly the shoots, up metal contaminated soils. It is a relatively the highest As absorption was recorded in kenaf cv. HC-3, inexpensive form of ecological engineering that has followed by kenaf cv. HC-95. Kenaf varieties produced proven effective. Plants that accumulate metals in more biomass. In terms of higher plant biomass production, high concentrations are sometimes referred to as and As absorption, kenaf varieties showed considerable hyperaccumulators. Hyperaccumulator plants possess potential to remediate As-contaminated soil. highly efficient mechanisms to acquire and concentrate CONCLUSION: The overall As absorption and As in their tissues (Ma et al., 2001; Visoottivisetha et phytoremediation potentiality of plant varieties were in the al., 2002; Tu and Ma, 2002; Mahimairaja et al., 2005; Gonzaga et al., 2008). Ideal hyperaccumulators should *Corresponding author: Jang-Eok Kim have the ability to absorb large amounts of As, and Phone: +82-53-950-5720; Fax: +82-53-953-7233; continuously accumulate, translocate, and tolerate high E-mail: [email protected] concentrations of As, over the entire growth cycle 111 112 Nizam et al. (Garbisu and Alkorta, 2001; Murakami and Ae, 2009). contaminated soil, such as small biomass and a limited In addition, the phytoremediation of metal pollutants adaptation capacity to growth conditions and from the contaminated soil also requires rapidly cultivation. The selection of plants having metal- growing plant species that have high biomass. The accumulating ability and compatibility with local concentration of metal in the harvestable part of a weather conditions is an important issue. Some plant hyperaccumulator plant must be significantly higher species such as Agrostis castellana L. and Agrostis than that in the soil, in order to ensure that the delicatula L. (De Koe, 1994), Bidens cynapiifolia L. volume of contaminated plant material generated by (Bech et al., 1997), Pteris vittata L. (Ma et al., 2001; Tu phytoremediation is less than the original volume of et al., 2002; Ye et al., 2011), Mimosa pudica L. and the contaminated soil (Salt, 2000). Melastoma malabrathricum L. (Visoottivisetha et al., Bangladesh has considerable plant biodiversity, and 2002), Pityrogramma calomelanos L. (Gulz et al., 2005), hence, has the potential to provide suitable species for Sesuvium portulacastrum L. (Lokhande et al., 2011), phytoremediation of As-contaminated soil. The problems Hibiscus cannabinus L. (Meera and Agamuthu, 2011) arising from As contamination in groundwater are and Echinochloa crusgalli L. (Islam et al., 2013), have major concerns in many countries, especially in been reported to accumulate As from soils. Three plant Bangladesh, owing to high levels of environmental species such as kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), mesta toxicity to living organisms. Recently, it has become (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.), and jute (Corchorus capsularis apparent that As-contaminated groundwater used for L.), which were used in the present study, are common irrigation is further compounding the problem by fiber crops in Bangladesh and are easily cultivated in adding As to soils, thus posing a serious threat to the contaminated soil. However, no systematic plants, human health, and environment health, research has been conducted on remediation of through food chain pathways (Bruce et al., 2003; As-contaminated soil, using these plants. It is therefore Duxbury et al., 2003; Williams et al., 2006; Zhu et al., of utmost importance to investigate the use of these 2008). In irrigated areas, researchers found that soil plants as an ecofriendly plant-based green method of samples collected from Dholdi, Komorpur, and cleaning up As-contaminated soil. The present study Paranpur areas of Faridpur district in Bangladesh was conducted to evaluate the phytoremediation contained 22.0, 47.3, and 116.0 mg/kg As, respectively potential of kenaf, mesta, and jute in As-contaminated (Islam et al., 2013). Specifically, in areas with soil. As-enriched groundwater-irrigated soil, As level detected up to 57.0 mg/kg (Alam and Sattar, 2000). In Materials and Methods Bangladesh, contaminated groundwater is used for the irrigation of rice, which is the staple food. With Experimental site and set up regards to food safety, accumulation of As in the The net house experiment was carried out in the contaminated soil can cause toxicity to rice plants and Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Bangladesh o subsequently a significant reduction in yield, thus Agricultural University, Mymensingh, located at 24.75 N o threatening long-term sustainability of rice cropping latitude and 90.4 E longitude. In this investigation, systems in the affected areas (Panaullah et al., 2009; As-contaminated and uncontaminated soils were Khan et al., 2010). As-contaminated soil has emerged collected from the selected area of Mymensingh as a serious problem, because of As accumulation in district in Bangladesh, in the agroecological zone rice grains, its toxic and carcinogenic properties (AEZ)-28. Ten kilograms of processed and air-dried (Tripathi et al., 2007), and its effects on both human soil was taken in a plastic pot (30 cm × 20 cm × 25 and animal health. It is important to remediate cm), and moistened at 70% of the field capacity level, As-contaminated soil to adequately protect animal and with As-free deionized water. The experiment was human health. performed using a completely randomized design In order to expand the frontiers of phytoremediation (CRD) with 4 replications. To assess phytoremediation technologies, much focus is now being placed on the potentiality of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L. cvs. HC-3 increased use of plants that have the potential to and HC-95), mesta (Hibiscus sabdariffa L. cv. accumulate As. There are some problems associated Samu-93) and jute (Corchorus capsularis L. cvs. CVE-3 with the application of hyperaccumulators to the and BJC-7370), 10 uniform textured surface seeds of Phytoremediation Potential of Kenaf, Mesta, and Jute in Arsenic-contaminated Soil 113 Table 1. Characteristics of As-contaminated and uncontaminated soils Characteristics As-contaminated soil Uncontaminated soil A. Physical characteristics: Sand (%) 38.00 41.00 Silt (%) 34.00 30.00 Clay (%) 28.00 29.00 Textural class (USDA) Clay loam Clay loam Particle density (g/cm3) 2.42 2.70 Bulk density (g/cm3) 1.32 1.68 B. Chemical characteristics: pH 6.65 6.50 EC (μS/cm) 460.00 101.00 OC (%) 2.24 0.62 OM (%) 3.86 1.06 As (mg/kg) 98.25 11.84 each variety under test, were sterilized (by dipping in preharvest soil samples were determined following 95% ethanol), sown in each pot, and thinned to 6 methods as outlined by Klute (1986). Electrical seedlings per pot a week after germination. Nitrogen conductivity (EC) and pH values of preharvest soil (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) were applied samples were measured electrometrically in a 1:2.5 to soil at rates of 60, 12, and 15 kg ha-1, from urea, and 1:5 suspension of soil and water, respectively triple superphosphate (TSP), and muriate of potash (Singh et al., 1999; Gupta, 2013). Organic matter (MOP), respectively. Whole amounts of P and K, and content of preharvest soil samples was determined by 50% of N fertilizers were applied as a basal dose, and wet oxidation method (Singh et al., 1999). For the the rest of N fertilizer was top dressed at 45 days after determination of As levels, soil samples were extracted sowing (DAS). From sowing to harvest, all pots were by HNO3 (AR grade), and H2O2 (AR grade), following kept under a polyethylene shaded net house for the method outlined by Loeppert and Biswas (2002).