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Rhizofiltration of lead using an aromatic medicinal plant Plectranthus amboinicus cultured in a hydroponic nutrient film technique (NFT) system

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Abstract

Heavy metal contamination of water bodies and groundwater is a major concern of the modern world. Rhizofiltration—the use of plant root system to remove/extract pollutants from wastewater—has proven advantages over conventional methods of treatment. However, commercialization of this in situ remediation technology requires a better understanding of plant–metal interactions especially on the ability of different plant species to accumulate metals at different parts of the plant system which is critical for the successful remediation of contaminated medium. Many aquatic and terrestrial plants have been reported to accumulate heavy metals when grown hydroponically. Therefore, a batch experiment with different concentrations of lead and a nutrient film technique (NFT) experiment with recycling of wastewater were employed in this study in order to investigate the rhizofiltration of lead-containing wastewater using Plectranthus amboinicus, an aromatic medicinal plant. Results show that P. amboinicus is tolerant to a wide range of lead concentrations and nutrient deficiency. The plant accumulates considerable amount of lead, particularly in the roots, and translocation to the stem and leaf was limited, indicating that the use of leaves/above-ground parts of the plant for medicinal purposes is not hindered by its ability to remove lead from the soil or water. The study also suggests that the plant can be considered for the clean-up of lead-contaminated wastewater in combination with safe biomass disposal alternatives.

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Acknowledgments

Support from the University Grants Commission, Government of India, with the award of FIP to Mr. Ignatius Antony and support from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, with DST-INSPIRE fellowship to Mr. Arun Babu V have been gratefully acknowledged. The authors also thank the Department of Environment and Climate Change (Government of Kerala), DST-FIST and PURSE programmes (Government of India) for the support. The authors gratefully acknowledge the reviewers for their valuable comments which helped a lot in improving the manuscript.

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  1. School of Environmental Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi University, Priyadarsini Hills P.O., Athirampuzha, Kottayam, Kerala, 686560, India

    A. Ignatius, V. Arunbabu, J. Neethu & E.V. Ramasamy

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  1. A. Ignatius
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  2. V. Arunbabu
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  3. J. Neethu
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  4. E.V. Ramasamy
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Correspondence to E.V. Ramasamy.

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Responsible editor: Elena Maestri

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Ignatius, A., Arunbabu, V., Neethu, J. et al. Rhizofiltration of lead using an aromatic medicinal plant Plectranthus amboinicus cultured in a hydroponic nutrient film technique (NFT) system. Environ Sci Pollut Res 21, 13007–13016 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-014-3204-1

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