Phytomining of heavy metals from soil by Croton bonplandianum using phytoremediation technology

Abstract:

Metal ions are not only valuable intermediates in metal extraction, but also important raw materials for technical applications. They possess some unique but, identical physical and chemical properties, which make them useful probes of low temperature geochemical reactions. Heavy metals are natural constituents of the earth's crust, but indiscriminate human activities have drastically altered their geochemical cycles and biochemical balance. Metal concentration in soil typically ranges from less than one to as high as 100,000 mg/kg. Heavy metal contaminations of land resources continue to be the focus of numerous environmental studies and attract a great deal of attention worldwide. This is attributed to no--biodegradability and persistence of heavy metals in soils. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can cause deleterious health effects in humans. Complexation, separation, and removal of metal ions have become increasingly attractive areas of research and have led to new technical developments like phytoremediation that has numerous biotechnological implications of understanding of plant metal accumulation. Croton bonplandianum is newly identified as a potential heavy metal hypreaccumulator. In this study Croton bonplandianum was subjected for in vitro heavy metal accumulation, to explore the accumulation pattern of four heavy metals viz Cadmium, Lead, Nickel and Zinc in various parts of Croton bonplandianum plant parts. It was found that the efficiency of Croton bonplandianum to accumulate heavy metals is Cd>Pb>Zn>Ni. The absorption of these heavy metals in plant parts revealed that the highest translocation of metals from ground to root was ground to be in the order of Pb (1.12) > Zn (0.26) > Ni (0.18) > Cd (0.15). The distribution of Cd in Croton bonplandianum followed the trend Root>Stem>Leaf; with Ni it was Root>Leaf>Stem, while Pb showed leaf>stem>root. Translocation of metals in Croton bonplandianum plant parts from soil makes this plant an eligible candidate to remove heavy metals from soil.