Lupinus versicolor response in soils contaminated with heavy metals from a petroleum extraction field

Abstract

Phytoremediation uses the survival capacity of certain plant species in environments contaminated with heavy metals to extract such metals. The objective of this study was to evaluate the response of Lupinus versicolor as a biological agent in soils contaminated with Cu, Pb, Cd, Ni and Zn. The present study was conducted in a greenhouse. The experimental design was a completely randomized block with 6 replications. Results showed that the plants accumulated as much as 0.12mg kg-1 of Cu within foliage, 0.94 mg kg-1 of Pb within stems, 0.31 mg kg-1 of Cd within stems, 1.03 mg kg-1 of Ni within stems and 2.46 mg kg-1 of Zn within the leaves, being these values higher than those found by other researchers. In this experiment, favorable results were obtained for the accumulation of Cd in the leaves, Ni in the stems and Cu in the roots. Therefore, based on the results obtained, L. versicolor is a plant that can be considered as a good alternative for removing heavy metals in contaminated soils and for the phytostabilization and revegetation of contaminated soils. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.