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Accumulation of heavy metals in wild plants collected from the industrial sites—potential for phytoremediation

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Abstract

The decontamination of heavy metals contaminated industrial soil is challenging. The use of wild plants is an environment friendly and economical solution. In this study, phytoremediation potential of wild plants collected from the Hayatabad Industrial estate, KPK, Pakistan was evaluated. Total 17 plant species which belongs to 11 family were collected. Plant and soil samples were acid digested and heavy metals including nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were analyzed. pH of collected soil ranged between 7.20–8.13, and the dominant soil textures were clay loam, loam and sandy loam. Results showed that among all collected plant species, Erigeron conyzanthus L and Chenopodium murale showed maximum concentration of multi-heavy metals in roots. Collected plant species were not able to accumulate higher concentration of heavy metals in shoots and therefore no plant species was heavy metal hyperaccumulator except Solanum xanthocarpum and Argemone Mexicana accumulated > 1000 mg Pb kg−1 and 300 mg Cr kg−1 in aerial parts, respectively. Solanum xanthocarpum showed maximum metal extraction ratio (%) for all heavy metals. Among all collected plant species, maximum plant species showed translocation factor > 1. Present study showed that collected plant species have ability to transfer heavy metals from roots to shoots and could be used for the phytoremediation of multi-metals contaminated soil.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, Malakand University, Chakdara, Dir (L), 18800, Pakistan

    I. Ahmad

  2. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Hazara University, Mansehra, 21120, Pakistan

    I. Gul

  3. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad, 44000, Pakistan

    S. Irum & M. Arshad

  4. Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Okara, Okara, 56300, Pakistan

    M. Manzoor

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  1. I. Ahmad
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  2. I. Gul
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  3. S. Irum
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  4. M. Manzoor
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  5. M. Arshad
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Contributions

IA: Sample’s collection, Draft and Map preparation; IG: Sample’s analysis, Conceptualization, Reviewing and Editing, draft finalization, SI, MA: Reviewing; MM: statistical analysis.

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Correspondence to I. Gul.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Editorial responsibility: Hari Pant.

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Ahmad, I., Gul, I., Irum, S. et al. Accumulation of heavy metals in wild plants collected from the industrial sites—potential for phytoremediation. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 20, 5441–5452 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04340-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-04340-3

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