44
Tecnología y Ciencias del Agua
, vol. VIII, núm. 2, marzo-abril de 2017, pp. 43-50
Luo
et al.
,
Phytoextraction potential of wetland plants for Copper in Water Bodies
•
ISSN 2007-2422
Introduction
Heavy metals are harmful to aquatic
ecosystems, and remain in the environment for
a long time (Ameh & Akpah, 2011; Bissenbaev,
Ishchenko, Taipakova, & Saparbaev, 2011; Tan-
han, Kruatrachue, Pokethitiyook, & Chaiyarat,
2007). Copper is a toxic heavy metal pollutant
that quickly accumulates in animals and humans
through the food chain, which seriously affects
the metabolism of the human body. The human
body releases Cu
2+
very slowly, causing damage
to bodily organs that are irreversible. Therefore,
Cu
2+
pollution treatment has become an ur-
gent subject. Traditional methods of treatment
to heavy metal pollution in soil mainly use the
mixing of soil, leaching method, chemical modi-
fiers, and so on. Not only are these physical and
chemical methods expensive, they cannot be
applied into small areas and cause second pollu-
tion. Such methods cannot fundamentally solve
the Cu2+ pollution in soil. (He, Huang-Xiao, &
Chen, 2011; Visioli & Marmiroli, 2013; Mirza,
Hossain, & Masayuki, 2010). In recent years,
people have found the bioconcentration ability
of some plants to heavy metals. It is a high effi-
ciency, environmental protection and cost control
measures to use such plants as phytoremediation
of heavy metal pollution. This treatment measure
has very broad application prospects (Engelen,
Sharpe-Pedler, & Moorhead, 2007; Chaumont
et
al
., 2012; Rajkumar, Sandhya, Prasad, & Freitas,
2012; Zhou
et al
., 2007).
The calamus (
Acorus calamus L.
) and reed
(
Phragmites australis
) are common across China’s
natural wetlands. The high Cu
2+
absorption
features of these two plants species provide
scientific basis for phytoremediation of heavy
metal pollution in water bodies.
Materials and methods
Acorus calamus
and
Phragmites australis
were
collected from the Fuxi River basin of Sichuan
Province, China.
In April of 2014, the experiment was carried
out with hydroponic cultivation in a ventilated
plastic shed. Foam boards were placed on the
clean plastic barrels with three holes to serve
as a plant carrier. Three plants of similar height
were selected from each species and trans-
planted into the foam carriers, and the root of
the plants were immersed in the nutrient solu-
tion with the modified Hoagland formula: 945
mg/l Ca(NO
3
)
2
·4H
2
O, 506 mg/l KNO
3
, 80 mg/l
NH
4
NO
3
, 136 mg/l KH
2
PO
4
, 493 mg/l MgSO
4
,
2.5 ml Fe-EDTA, 5 ml trace element solution
(0.83 mg/l KI, 6.2 mg/l H
3
BO
4
, 22.3 mg/l
MnSO
4
, 8.6 mg/l ZnSO
4
, 0.25 mg/l Na
2
MoO
4
,
0.025 mg/l CuSO
4
, 0.025 mg/l CoCl
2
), pH = 6.0.
After two weeks of continued growth of the
plant’s, the Cu(NO
3
)
2
was added to the aqueous
solution according to the concentration gradi-
ent: 7 concentration process of 0, 10, 25, 60, 100,
200 and 500mg/l. Each of concentration process
was repeated six times.
The well-growing plants were collected after
three weeks and divided into above- and below-
ground parts. They were washed with distilled
water and deionized water twice, treated with
deactivation enzymes at 105℃, and dried to a
constant weight for eight hours at 70℃. After
drying, weighing, grinding and digestion, the
plant samples were determined Cu
2+
concentra-
tion by atomic absorption spectrophotometer.
Copper retention rate was calculated by
formula (1) (Xia & Shu, 2001).
Cu
2+
retention rate(%) = (C1-C2)/C1 × 100 (1)
C1: Cu
2+
content in underground part of plants,
mg/kg.
C2: Cu
2+
content in aboveground part of plants,
mg/kg.
The experimental data was analyzed by
variance analysis (ANOVA), LSD test, and cor-
relation analysis between Cu
2+
concentration of
solution and enrichment concentration of plants
by Origin 9.0 software.
Results and discussion
The Two-way ANOVA analysis of Cu
2+
contents
of the two emergent plants is as follows: The
