Removal Of Environmental Pollutants (Lead, Chromium And Cadmium) Using Root And Leaf Tissues Of Indian Mustard, Rice And Wheat Plants

Abstract

The environment is polluted day by day and it is very much expensive to remediate the environmental pollutants by physicochemical process. Therefore, using plants as a process to remediate pollutants is essential. In this study, phytoremediation of root and leaf tissues of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea), rice (Oryza sativa) and wheat (Triticum aestivum) against three most environment pollutants viz. lead (Pb), chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) of Buriganga riverbank soil of Dhaka city, Bangladesh were assessed. The highest amount of Pb was found in the leaf (11.6755 {+/-}1.9860 mg/kg dry weight) and root (51.4251 {+/-}5.0320 mg/kg dry weight) of B. juncea. However, the highest amount of Cr was found in the leaf (5.9871{+/-}0.9032 mg/kg dry weight) of B. juncea; and in the root (46.4739{+/-}2.2920 mg/kg dry weight) of O. sativa respectively. Although the highest amount (0.9624{+/-}0.0920 mg/kg dry weight) of Cd was found in the leaf of B. juncea; the amount of Cd in the root was approximately same in all the three plants. This research also found more amounts of heavy metals compared to other studies using Indian mustard, rice and wheat against the three most environmental pollutants viz., Pb, Cr and Cd. Moreover, this study revealed that B. juncea is the highest hyperaccumulator species regarding Pb, Cr and Cd accumulation and can be used to clean up the polluted Buriganga riverbank soil.