article · Molecules
Contaminated agricultural soils pose serious risks by introducing toxic elements into the food chain. Cultivating ornamental plants offers a practical way to extract these metals without contaminating edible crops. A study evaluated the ornamental plant Amaranthus tricolor under pot conditions using contaminated soils gathered from Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar, and Arab El-Madabeg in Egypt. The work assessed whether natural organic amendments, including poultry litter extract, vinasse sugarcane, and humic acid, could boost the extraction of lead, zinc, and copper compared to the synthetic chemical agent EDTA. All organic amendments increased the dry weight of the plants relative to the control. Organic additions also significantly raised the uptake of lead and zinc, with vinasse sugarcane delivering the highest remediation factors in Arab El-Madabeg soil, establishing Amaranthus tricolor with organic amendments as a viable phytoextraction method.
Heavy metal contamination in agricultural soils threatens environmental safety and food security. Phytoextraction using ornamental species removes harmful metals without introducing them into crops intended for consumption. Demonstrating that organic by-products such as vinasse sugarcane and poultry litter can mobilize metals as effectively as synthetic chemical agents provides a cleaner, biologically based alternative for reclaiming degraded farmland.
This technique could support soil remediation services and agricultural land managers seeking affordable, plant-based methods to clean land contaminated with heavy metals. The approach utilizes cheap agricultural by-products, including sugarcane vinasse and poultry litter, alongside ornamental biomass. However, because the findings are limited to pot trials, the technology is at an early experimental stage and requires validation through long-term field trials before commercial application can occur.
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Accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) by ornamental plants (OPs) from contaminated agriculture soils is a unique technique that can efficiently reduce the metal load in the food chain. <i>Amaranthus tricolor</i> L. has attractive characteristics acquiring a higher growth rate and large biomass when grown at heavy metal contaminated soils. Site-specific detailed information is not available on the use of <i>A. tricolor</i> plant in metal phytoremediation from the polluted sites. The study aimed to enhance the uptake of HMs (Pb, Zn, and Cu) via amending poultry litter extract (PLE), vinasse sugarcane (VSC), and humic acid (HA) as natural mobilized organic materials compared to ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), as a common mobilized chemical agent by <i>A. tricolor</i> plant. The studied soils collected from Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar (Cairo Governorate), Arab El-Madabeg (Assiut Governorate), Egypt, and study have been conducted under pot condition. Our results revealed all organic materials in all studied soils, except EDTA in EL-Gabal El-Asfar soil, significantly increased the dry weight of the <i>A. tricolor</i> plant compared to the control treatment. The uptake of Pb and Zn significantly (<i>p</i> > 0.05) increased due to applying all organic materials to the studied soils. HA application caused the highest uptake as shown in Pb concentration by more than 5 times in Helwan soil and EDTA by 65% in El-Gabal El-Asfar soil while VSC increased it by 110% in El-Madabeg soil. Also, an increase in Zn concentration due to EDTA application was 58, 42, and 56% for Helwan, El-Gabal El-Asfar, and El-Madabeg soil, respectively. In all studied soils, the application of organic materials increased the remediation factor (RF) than the control. El-Madabeg soil treated with vinasse sugarcane gave the highest RF values; 6.40, 3.26, and 4.02% for Pb, Zn, and Cu, respectively, than the control. Thus, we identified <i>A. tricolor</i> as a successful ornamental candidate that, along with organic mobilization amendments, most efficiently develop soil health, reduce metal toxicity, and recommend remediation of heavy metal-contaminated soils. Additionally, long-term application of organic mobilization amendments and continued growth of <i>A</i>. <i>tricolor</i> under field conditions could be recommended for future directions to confirm the results.
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DOI: 10.3390/molecules26113360
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