Tolerance of cotton to elevated levels of Pb and its potential for phytoremediation

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2021-07, Vol.28 (25), p.32299-32309
• Main Authors: Ramana, Sivakoti, Tripathi, Awadhesh Kumar, Bharati, Kollah, Singh, Amar Bahadur, Kumar, Ajay, Sahu, Asha, Rajput, Poonam Singh, Dey, Pradip, Saha, Jayanta Kumar, Patra, Ashok K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Actinomycetes; Amino acids; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Bacteria; Bioaccumulation; Biological magnification; Cellobiase; Cotton; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecotoxicology; Electrolytes; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Experiments; Fluorescein; Fluorescein diacetate; Glucosidase; Heterotrophic bacteria; Lead; Phenols; Phytoremediation; Proline; Research Article; Soil pollution; Translocation; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; β-Glucosidase
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-021-13067-6

Two experiments were conducted to determine the cotton plant’s tolerance to Pb and its remediation potential. In the first experiment, the phytoremediation potential was determined by exposing the plant to four levels of Pb (0, 500, 750, and 1000 mg kg −1 ). The cotton plant exhibited an excellent tolerance index at Pb 1000 mg kg −1 (root 78.65% and shoot 93.08%) and lower grade of growth inhibition (root 21.35% and shoot 6.92%). Pb stress resulted in higher leakage of electrolytes and increased the synthesis of higher proline, total phenol, and free amino acid contents to mitigate stress. The plant could not meet the criteria of a hyperaccumulator of Pb. The concentration of Pb in the shoot was a mere 96 μg g −1 dry wt (< the critical judging concentration of 1000 μg g −1 dry wt), and bioconcentration and translocation factors were