Ability of Cicer arietinum (L.) for Bioremoval of Lead and Chromium from Soil

Abstract

Intensive industrial activity has resulted in contamination of soils with high concentrations of heavy metals and toxic elements, potentially bioaccumulated in crop and causing serious health and socio-economic problems. Soil pollution not only leads to pollution of water resources but also restricts the use of a site or can lead to soil degeneration. The present study is considered to take the advantage of bioaccumulative nature of heavy metals for soil remediation. The experimentation involves the usage of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum (L.)) for the phytoextraction of Pb and Cr. The seeds were sown in artificially contaminated soil separately with 25, 50, 75, 100 and 150 mg/Kg Cr and 50, 100, 200, 400 and 600 mg/Kg Pb. The plants were allowed to grow for a period of 30 days and bioaccumulation was analyzed at interval of 10 days. Higher bioaccumulation was observed for higher heavy metal concentration and longer growth periods. An attempt has been made in the present paper to compare the extent of soil cleanup with time.