Abstract

Phytoremediation is one of the promising green options for remediation of soil contaminated with the toxic heavy metals using plants which has high ability for hyperaccumulation, extraction and stabilization. This paper deals with the investigations carried out on the benthic sludge to evaluate the metal uptake capacity of selected weedy plants and its remediation ability. Phytoremediation potential was evaluated in terms of the Bio-concentration factor (BCF). From the experiments, it was noted that the benthic lake sludge contains heavy metals such as As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn. The eight weedy plants were selected to study the uptake of metals and BCF. From the study, it was noted that Ni metal has higher BCF values in the range of 2.92 to 6.85 followed by Cd metal ranging from 2.41 to 4.72. The study of weedy plants reveals that higher uptake capacity is for As and Pb metal shown by Ipomea carnea, Cd and Cr metals by Euphorbia geniculata,Cu, Fe and Zn metals by Eucalyptus globulus and Ni metal by Polygonum glabrum.