Muhammad Aasim^1*, Senar Aydın², Mehmet Karataş³, Mehmet Emin Aydın⁴, Canan Soğukpınar⁴, Canan Sevinc³

¹Department of Plant Protection, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Technologies, Sivas University of Science and Technology, 58140, Sivas, Turkey

²Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

³Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

⁴Department of Civil Engineer­ing, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey

Abstract

Phytoremediation of contaminated environment using hyperaccumulator plants is considered as ecofriendly and cost-effective technique. Aquatic plants like Ceratophyllum demersum (Coontail) is used for the phytoremediation of aquatic environment contaminated by heavy metals. In this study, in vitro regenerated plants of C. demersum were exposed to different concentrations of Chromium (Cr) (0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 mg L^-1) for different exposure time (1, 3 and 5 days) in order to investigate the phytoremediation potential. The plants contained in Cr containing liquid medium were cultured in growth room having 16 hr light photoperiod aided by white Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) and temperature of 24±1 ⁰C. The plant samples were taken out from liquid medium after 1, 3 and 5 days for taking data regarding fresh  weight, dry weight, Cr uptake by plants and bioconcentration factor (BCF). The clear relationship between Cr concentration and exposure time on phytoremediation was revealed. Both fresh and dry weight of plants was recorded higher at variable Cr concentration compared to control plants. The exposure time of 3 days to Cr caused the maximum Cr uptake, followed by further uptake of Cr at relatively slow rate after 5 days. The highest Cr uptake and BCF was achieved from medium provided with 12 mg L^-1 and 3 mg L^-1 of Cr respectively. Comparison of exposure time exposure time × Cr concentration revealed the highest Cr uptake (9145 mg kg^-1) and BCF value (2076.5) from the combination of 12 mg L^-1 × 5 d and 3 mg L^-1 × 5 d respectively. The results revealed that in vitro regenerated plants of C. demersum can be used for phytoremediation of Cr and possibly use against other heavy metals.

Keywords: Bioconcentration factor, Chromium, C. demersum, Phytoremediation, Water