Evaluation of Indian mustard’s hyperaccumulating capacity for heavy metal phytoremediation

The hasty industrialization is leading to increasing contamination of the all natural resources like air, soil and water. One such non-biodegradable element available in large proportions is Lead, which is considered to be a heavy metal and has capacity to accumulate in environment. Naturally Lead exist in earth’s crust but in small proportions which is harmless, but due to larger amount of release of Lead from industries, it has become a serious concern as larger concentration is leading to deterioration of environment. The industrial processes like metal smelting and fumes of battery makers is adding to the concentration of Lead in environment. And entry of Lead in environment takes place when it mixes with soil and water, and further enters into food chain, forming high risks to human beings. The scientist and researchers are looking for alternate ways to decrease this contamination and one such alternative is use of plants to remove heavy metals which is known as phytoremediation method. And in present study a hyperaccumulator plant Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) is used with different concentrations of lead at (8-12-16 ppm) for exposure time of 28 & 56 days. Lead accumulation calculation was done using ICP-AES. The varied levels of pH level depicted that Lead entered into the plant, here India mustard (Brassica juncea) is used for phytoremediation process due to easy and cheap availability.