A Comparative Study on Metal Accumulation in E. indica, C. citratus and V. zizanioides Grown on Copper Mine Waste
The concentrations of different forms of heavy metals (Cu, Ni and Mn) were determined in a mine dump material rich in chalcopyrite and compared with those of the natural vegetation colonizing in the dump. Dump materials are slightly acidic in nature, having low organic carbon and cation exchange capacity. Copper was the most abundant heavy metal, in both total (acid extractable) and bioavailable forms, and the relative abundance of metals was Cu>Ni>Mn. The Cu concentration in the CaCl2 extracts varied between 0.2 and 0.5 mgkg-1 and concentrations of average Ni and Mn were below detection limit. The heavy metal contents in the spontaneously occurring vegetation in the dump ranged between 5.4 and 217 mg Cu kg-1, 10 and 81 mg Ni kg-1, 8.5 and 264 mg Mn kg-1when considering all the plant samples analysed. Naturally, colonized grass Elusine indica was found to accumulate highest concentrations of Cu, Ni and Mn followed by planted grass species Cymbpopogon citratus and Vetiveria zizanioides. However, V. zizanioides was found to uptake more Mn than C. citratus. The native plant species may contribute to decrease the heavy metal contents in the dump materials.
Alloway, B.J. (1995). Heavy metals in soil (2nd ed). Blackie Acadamic and Professional, London, UK. p. 330.
Alvarez, E., Fernandez, M., Vaamonde, C. and M.J. Fernandez- Sanjurizo (2003). Heavy metals in the dump of an abandoned mine in Galicia (NW Spain) and in the spontaneously occurring vegetation. Sci Total Environ, 313: 185-197.
Baker, A.J.M. (1981. Accumulators and excluders: Strategies in the response of plants to trace metals. J. Plant Nutr., 3: 643-654.
Blaylock, M.J. and J.W. Huang (2000). Phytoextraction of metals. In: Phytoremediation of toxic metals: Using plants to clean up the environment. (I. Rakshin and B.D Ensley, eds). John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, p. 314.
Breadshaw, A.D. (1993). Understanding the fundamentals of succession. In: Primary succession on land. (J. Miles and D.H. Walton, eds). Blackwell, Oxford.
Chaney, R.L. (1983). Plant uptake of inorganic waste constituents. In: Land treatments of hazardous wastes. (J.F. Parr et al., eds), Noyes Data Corp., N J.
Davies, B.E. (1983). Heavy metal contamination from base metal mining and smelting: Implication for man and his environment. In: Applied Environmental Geochemistry. (I. Thornton, ed), Academic Press, London, pp. 425-462.
Davies, B.E. (1980). Trace element pollution. In: Applied Soil Trace Elements. (B.E. Davies, ed), Wiley, New York, pp. 287-351.
Dinelli, E. and L. Lombini (1996). Metal distribution in plants growing on copper mine spoils in Northern Apennies, Italy: The evaluation of seasonal variations. Applied Geochemistry, 11: 375-385.
Gupta, P.K. (2000). Chemical methods in environmental analysis: Water, soil and air. Agrobios, India.10: 25-32.
Freitas, H., Prasad, M.N.V. and J. Pratas (2004). Plant community tolerant to trace elements growing on the degraded soils of Sao Domingos mine in the south east of Portugal: Enviromental implications. Enviroment International, 30: 65-72.
Kabata-Pendias, A. and K. Pendias (1984). Trace elements in soils and plants. CRC Press, Inc, Boca Raton, Florida.
Khan, A.G. (2001). Relationship between chromium biomagnification ratio, accumulation factor, and mycorrhiaze in plants growing on tannery effluent-polluted soil. Environ. Int., 26: 417-423.
Lopez-Sanchez, J.F. et al. (2002). Extraction procedures for soil analysis. In: Methodologies in soil and sediment fraction studies: Single and sequential extraction procedures. (P.H. Quevauviller, ed.), Royal Society of Chem. Cambridge, UK, pp. 28-65.
Nelson D.W and L.E. Sommers (1982). Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In: Methods of soil analysis Part 2. Chemical and Microbiological Properties (2nd ed). (A.L. Page, ed.), American Society of Agronomy, Madison, WI. pp. 539-579.
Maiti, S.K, Nandhni, S. and A.S. Venkatesh (2005). Evaluation of bioremediation and related environmental geochemical aspects of copper mine waste from Mosaboni, Eastern India. Int. Seminar on Mineral Process Technology (MPT 2005). TMG Hill, India, pp. 434-441.
Pulford, I.D. (1991). A review of methods to control acid generation in pyrite coal mine waste. In: Land reclamation: An end to dereliction? (M.C.R. Davies, ed.), London: Elsevier Applied Science, pp. 269-327.
Reeves, R.D. and A.J.M. Baker (2000). Metal accumulating plants. In: Phytoremediation of toxic metals (Using plant to clean up the environment). (I. Raskin and B.D. Ensley, eds), Wiley, New York. pp. 193-230.
Salt, D.E. et al. (1996). Phytoremediation: A novel strategy for the removal of toxic metals from the environment using plants. Bio Tech., 13: 468-474.
Wang, W.S. et al. (2003). Relationship between the extractable metals from soils and metals taken up by maize roots and shoots. Chemosphere, 53: 525-530.
Yang, B. et al., (2003). Growth and metal accumulation in vetiver and two Sesbenia species on lead/zinc mine tailings. Chemosphere, 52: 1593-1600.