Abstract:
This study was conducted to study the efficiency of flax plant (Linum usitatissimum cv. Sakha
1) as a phytoremediator for the contaminated soils with heavy metals. The soil samples was
supplemented with different levels of Cd as CdCl2, (10, 20, and 40 mg/kg soil), Pb as
Pb(CH3COOH)2, (150, 500 and 700 mg/kg soil) and Zn as ZnSO4 (400, 800 and 1000 mg/kg
soil) in addition to control samples. Results show progressive reduction in the germination
percentage as the concentration of the heavy metals was increased compared to control samples.
Carbohydrate content increased by increasing Pb and Cd concentrations; while decrease by
increasing Zn concentrations. In contrast to Carbohydrate; protein content decrease by increasing
Pb and Cd concentrations; while increase by increasing Zn concentrations compared to control
samples. Results also showed a progressive increase in metal uptake in response to the metal
concentration in the soil. The average ability of flax plant to remove heavy metals from the
soil (removal %) was 49% for Cd, 68.6% for Pb and 71.76% for Zn. Subsequently, the highest
accumulation of Cd was detected in root whereas, the highest accumulation of Pb and Zn
detected in capsule. According to Bioaccumulation factor (BCF) and the translocation factor
(TF) measured in this study, flax could be considered as an accumulator plant for both Pb and
Zn by phytoextraction mechanism where each value of BCF and TF > 1 and due to values of
BCF which fairly close to 1 and TF which < 1 , flax can be considered as Cd excluder by
phytostabilization mechanism. |
