Assessment of the phytoremediation potential of Amaranthus retroflexus L. grown on ash dumps

A major threat to the environment and human health is the contamination of soils with heavy metals resulting from the mining industry, and phytoextraction is known as one of the main ecological methods for the decontamination of polluted soils.In this work, the determination of the heavy metals Cd, Pb and Ni was performed by atomic absorption spectrometry, from different organs of Amaranthus retroflexus L. plants, harvested from ash dumps near the Ișalnița Thermal Power Plant located in Dolj, Romania.In the root, Cd content was 0.44 mg kg -1 DW, in the stem 0.59 mg kg -1 DW, in leaves 0.55 mg kg -1 DW, and in the flowers 0.60 mg kg -1 DW.Regarding Pb content, the following values were recorded: In root 5.66 mg kg -1 DW, in stem 7.59 mg kg -1 DW, in leaves 8.29 mg kg -1 DW, in flowers 15.86 mg kg -1 DW.The values determined for Ni were: In root 5.37 mg kg -1 DW, in stem 2.69 mg kg -1 DW, in leaves 2.97 mg kg -1 DW and in flowers 3.65 mg kg -1 DW.Our findings indicated that the accumulation of the three heavy metals in the plant organs had a different behavior: In root it was lower for Cd and Pb and higher for Ni.In the case of these metals, their concentration in leaves and stems was approximately comparable.In flowers, Pb recorded the maximum value.High values of bioconcentration factor and translocation factors were found for Cd and Pb, indicating the high bioaccumulation potential of these metals in A. retroflexus and the successful transfer of these metals to the aerial organs of the plants.