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Phytoremediation Ability of Solanum nigrum L. to Cd-Contaminated Soils with High Levels of Cu, Zn, and Pb

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Abstract

Solanum nigrum L., a potential cadmium (Cd) hyper-accumulator, has not currently been investigated to identify if it has a strong simultaneous accumulative ability to Cd, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), or lead (Pb) in contaminated soils. In this study, a pot culture experiment was conducted to investigate the phytoremediation effects of S. nigrum L. on these heavy metals. The potential hyper-accumulative characteristics of S. nigrum L. were also discussed. The results showed that S. nigrum L. remediation effects were not inhibited by multi-heavy metals in contaminated soil. On the contrary, the height and wet and dry weights of S. nigrum L. increased compared to the control treatments and to treatments using only one heavy metal contaminant. Results from the Cd treatment experiments showed 1.66- and 1.45-fold increases in stem and root levels; there were also 1.24-, 2.17-, and 1.61-fold extraction increases in the leaves, stems, and roots, respectively. The differences found in shoot and root bioaccumulation coefficient (BC) factors for multi-heavy metal (MHM) treatment were higher than for a single Cd treatment. These results indicate that S. nigrum L. could stimulate biomass production and that it has a strong ability to tolerate and accumulate Cd in contaminated soils with Pb, Zn, and Cu. This study shows that the remediation scope for S. nigrum L. is greater than currently believed and that it will also remove Pb, Zn, and Cu while extracting Cd from contaminated soils.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the financial support provided for this work by the Educational Department of Heilongjiang Province of China (12541129), and Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry (2014-1685); the study was also supported by the National Natural Science Foundation (21406043).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, China

    Cailian Yu, Hong Yan, Xiaoxia Li, Zhenhua Zhou & Tingliang Yan

  2. Resources and Environmental Sciences College, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin, China

    Xianlong Peng

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  1. Cailian Yu
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  2. Xianlong Peng
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  3. Hong Yan
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  4. Xiaoxia Li
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  5. Zhenhua Zhou
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  6. Tingliang Yan
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Correspondence to Cailian Yu or Hong Yan.

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Yu, C., Peng, X., Yan, H. et al. Phytoremediation Ability of Solanum nigrum L. to Cd-Contaminated Soils with High Levels of Cu, Zn, and Pb. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 157 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2424-4

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