Ornamental Plant Efficiency for Heavy Metals Phytoextraction from Contaminated Soils Amended with Organic Materials
Mahrous Awad,
M. A. El-Desoky,
A. Ghallab,
Jan Kubes,
S. E. Abdel-Mawly,
Subhan Danish,
Disna Ratnasekera,
Mohammad Sohidul Islam,
Milan Skalicky,
Marian Brestic,
Alaa Baazeem,
Saqer S. Alotaibi,
Talha Javed,
Rubab Shabbir,
Shah Fahad,
Muhammad Habib ur Rahman,
Ayman EL Sabagh
Affiliations
Mahrous Awad
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt
M. A. El-Desoky
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Assiut 71524, Egypt
A. Ghallab
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Aswan University, Aswan 81711, Egypt
Jan Kubes
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
S. E. Abdel-Mawly
Department of Soils and Water, Faculty of Agriculture, Al-Azhar University, Assiut 71524, Egypt
Subhan Danish
Department of Soil Science, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan 06110, Pakistan
Disna Ratnasekera
Department of Agricultural Biology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ruhuna, Peradeniya 20400, Sri Lanka
Mohammad Sohidul Islam
Department of Agronomy, Hajee Mohammad Danesh Sience and Technology University, Dinajpur 5200, Bangladesh
Milan Skalicky
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
Marian Brestic
Department of Botany and Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 16500 Prague, Czech Republic
Alaa Baazeem
Department of Biology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Saqer S. Alotaibi
Department of Biotechnology, College of Science, Taif University, P.O. Box 11099, Taif 21944, Saudi Arabia
Talha Javed
College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Rubab Shabbir
College of Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China
Shah Fahad
Agriculture Department, The University of Swabi, Khyber Paktunkhwa 94640, Pakistan
Muhammad Habib ur Rahman
Crop Science Group, Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), University Bonn, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Ayman EL Sabagh
Department of Agronomy, Faculty of Agriculture, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Shaikh 33516, Egypt
Accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) by ornamental plants (OPs) from contaminated agriculture soils is a unique technique that can efficiently reduce the metal load in the food chain. Amaranthus tricolor L. has attractive characteristics acquiring a higher growth rate and large biomass when grown at heavy metal contaminated soils. Site-specific detailed information is not available on the use of A. tricolor plant in metal phytoremediation from the polluted sites. The study aimed to enhance the uptake of HMs (Pb, Zn, and Cu) via amending poultry litter extract (PLE), vinasse sugarcane (VSC), and humic acid (HA) as natural mobilized organic materials compared to ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), as a common mobilized chemical agent by A. tricolor plant. The studied soils collected from Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar (Cairo Governorate), Arab El-Madabeg (Assiut Governorate), Egypt, and study have been conducted under pot condition. Our results revealed all organic materials in all studied soils, except EDTA in EL-Gabal El-Asfar soil, significantly increased the dry weight of the A. tricolor plant compared to the control treatment. The uptake of Pb and Zn significantly (p > 0.05) increased due to applying all organic materials to the studied soils. HA application caused the highest uptake as shown in Pb concentration by more than 5 times in Helwan soil and EDTA by 65% in El-Gabal El-Asfar soil while VSC increased it by 110% in El-Madabeg soil. Also, an increase in Zn concentration due to EDTA application was 58, 42, and 56% for Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar, and El-Madabeg soil, respectively. In all studied soils, the application of organic materials increased the remediation factor (RF) than the control. El-Madabeg soil treated with vinasse sugarcane gave the highest RF values; 6.40, 3.26, and 4.02% for Pb, Zn, and Cu, respectively, than the control. Thus, we identified A. tricolor as a successful ornamental candidate that, along with organic mobilization amendments, most efficiently develop soil health, reduce metal toxicity, and recommend remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. Additionally, long-term application of organic mobilization amendments and continued growth of A. tricolor under field conditions could be recommended for future directions to confirm the results.
