TITLE:
Phytoremediation Potential of Vetiver Grass (Vetiveria Zizanioides) in Two Mixed Heavy Metal Contaminated Soils from the Zoundweogo and Boulkiemde Regions of Burkina Faso (West Africa)
AUTHORS:
Norbert Ondo Zue Abaga, Sylvie Dousset, Colette Munier-Lamy
KEYWORDS:
Vetiver Grass, Heavy Metals, Lixisol, Vertisol, Phytoextraction, Phytostabilization, Contamination
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection,
Vol.9 No.11,
November
23,
2021
ABSTRACT: In the
agricultural regions of Burkina Faso, urban solid waste fertilizers were
usually applied. This activity is likely to contaminate the soils and expose
populations to serious diseases. This study aims to assess rate of heavy metal
(Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr) contamination in both agricultural lixisol and
vertisol and to evaluate the removal efficiency of heavy metals using Vetiver
grass on different two mixed heavy metal contaminated soils. A pot experiment
was conducted to compare the metal accumulation and overall efficiency of metal
uptake by different plant parts (roots and shoots) on both tropical soils.
After 3 and 6 months growing on laboratory conditions, Vetiver grass plants
were harvested and heavy metal concentrations in shoot and root parts
determined by Inductively Coupled Plasma - Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. The
results indicate that at 3 and 6 moths, the shoot and root concentrations of
heavy metals in Vetiver grass harvested in lixisol were higher than vertisol.
For different plant parts, all metal concentrations were higher in root than in
shoot, except Cu and Pb. At the 3 and 6 months, the BCF values > 1 for Cd,
Cu and Zn in both soils showed Vetiver grass as an effective phyto-stabilizer
for these metals. However, the TF values > 1 for Cd (lixisol), Mn, Zn Ni and
Cr (vertisol) indicated the efficiency of Vetiver for phytoextraction. The
results of this study showed that Vetiver is more effective in lixisol, but it can be used for
remediation of both studied tropical soils from agricultural region of Burkina
Faso. Nevertheless, considering the special limitations of the experimental conditions,
further field monitoring is necessary to demonstrate the phytoremediation
efficiency of Vetiver in agricultural soils under the climatic conditions of
Burkina Faso.