Abstract
Heavy metal-contaminated soil constitutes many environmental concerns. The toxic nature of heavy metals poses serious threats to human health and the ecosystem. Decontamination of the polluted soil by phytoremediation is of fundamental importance. Vegetation is an appealing and cost-effective green technology for the large-scale phytoremediation of polluted soils. In this paper, a greenhouse experiment was carried out to test the potential of Rhazya stricta as a heavy metal phytoremediator in polluted soil. Plants were grown for three months in pots filled with soils treated with the heavy metals Cd, Pb, Cu, and Zn at rates of 10, 50, and 100 mg/kg. The bioaccumulation factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF) were calculated to detect the ability of R. stricta to accumulate and transfer heavy metals from soil to plant organs. The results showed that under increasing levels of soil pollution, the bioconcentration of Cd and Zn heavy metals showed the highest values in plant roots followed by leaves, whereas in the case of Pb and Cu, roots showed the highest values followed by stems. Heavy metals accumulation was higher in roots than in stems and leaves. The BCF of Zn reached the highest values in roots and stems for 10 mg/kg soil treatment, followed by the BCFs of Cd, Cu, and Pb. The TF for the different heavy metal pollutants' concentrations was less than unity, suggesting that the plants remediate pollutants by phytostabilization. The TF values ranged from higher to lower were in the order Zn > Cu > Cd > Pb. The rapid growth of R. stricta and its tolerance of heavy metals, as well as its ability to absorb and accumulate metals within the plant, recommends its use in the phytoremediation of slightly polluted soils in arid lands by limiting the heavy metals transport.