Phytoextraction of Nickel Contaminated Soil with Citric Acid and Humic Acid treatments using Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) Plant

Abstract

In this study, the removal possibilities of Ni from contaminated soil using perennial rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) plants were investigated. This decontamination process was conducted adding citric acid (C6H8O7) and humic acid. Increasing dose of Ni (0, 50, 100, 200 and 400mg Ni kg-1), 0.005mM citric acid and 2% humic acid were added to the test soil in the pots and incubated under controlled conditions for a month. The seedlings of rosemary plant were transferred to the pots and they were grown for 45 days. At the end of the experiments, dry weight of plant tissues and the concentrations of Ni, nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), and copper (Cu) were determined. The treatments of citric acid and humic acid were increased the Ni uptake of plants. As a result of the experiments, it has been determined that the rosemary plant has accumulated 189μg plant-1 in 400mg Ni kg-1 application, and 246g plant-1 in 400mg Ni kg-1 + citric acid application and 216μg plant-1 in 400mg Ni kg-1 + humic acid application. The results showed that the rosemary plant has the potential phytoextractor plant in decontamination process with citric acid and humic acid.