ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Exploring the Phyto-Remediation Potential of Different Winter Weeds for Lead Toxicity
 
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1
Department of Agronomy, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan
 
2
Department of Botany, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan
 
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Agronomy Forage Production Section, Ayub Agricultural Research Institute, Faisalabad, 38850, Pakistan
 
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Department of Agricultural Engineering, Khwaja Fareed University of Engineering and Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, 64200, Pakistan
 
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Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, 38040, Pakistan
 
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College of Tourism and Geographic Sciences, Baicheng Normal University, Baicheng, Jilin 137000, China
 
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Research Center on Ecological Sciences, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang, 330045, China
 
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Botany and Microbiology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, P.O. Box. 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
 
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Plant Production Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box. 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
 
 
Submission date: 2023-12-04
 
 
Final revision date: 2023-12-26
 
 
Acceptance date: 2024-01-15
 
 
Online publication date: 2024-02-29
 
 
Publication date: 2024-05-23
 
 
Corresponding author
Wang Lihong   

College of Tourism and Geographic Sciences, Baicheng Normal University, Baicheng, Jilin 137000, China
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2024;33(4):4481-4492
 
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ABSTRACT
Lead (Pb) is the most common heavy metal contaminant in the environment, and its concentration is continuously increasing owing to anthropogenic activities. Phytoremediation is a green technique used globally to remediate polluted soils. The role of weeds as potential phytoremediation agents has rarely been reported in the literature. Weeds are more tolerant to abiotic stress; hence, it was hypothesized that these can serve the purpose more efficiently. Therefore, a pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the phytoremediation potential of five winter weeds, namely Avena fatua, Phalaris minor, Coronopus didymus, Chenopodium murale, and against various levels of Pb stress: control, 100 and 200 ppm. Results depicted that all the weeds could survive under higher levels of Pb; nonetheless, exposure to 200 ppm Pb stress reduced shoot dry weight (29%-69%) across all weeds. The internal CO2 concentration, photosynthesis rate, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate decreased (5-60%) among all weeds with increasing Pb stress levels. However, Avena fatua, Phalaris minor, and Chenopodium murale depicted better gas exchange attributes than other weeds. Moreover, increased (4-60%) antioxidant activity was observed in all weeds at 100 ppm Pb level; nevertheless, it decreased at 200 ppm Pb. Additionally, Pb concentration was highest in Avena fatua, Phalaris minor, and Coronopus didymus (60-75 ppm), and the bio-accumulation factor showed that Avena fatua and Coronopus didymus were the accumulators of Pb. The translocation factor of Phalaris minor was more than 1, depicting that Pb was translocated more into shoots from roots; all other weeds accumulated more Pb in their roots than shoots. Thus, it can be concluded that different winter weeds can thrive under Pb stress, and Avena fatua and Coronopus didymus can serve the purpose of phytoremediation.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
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