ROLE OF MEDICINAL PLANTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION

Abstract

Soil pollution refers to the contamination of soil with anomalous concenterations of toxic substances. Heavy metals such as zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and lead (Pb) are wall to wall in the environment due to natural and anthropogenic activities. Phytoremediation is the process which use plants as hyperaccumulator to remove heavy metal from contaminated soil, is considered to be one of the most promising remediation methods. This study focused on the effects of medicinal plant extracts and plantation of medicinal plant to accumulate Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu from soil. These medicinal plants were common and relatively cheap. Among 10% aqueous extracts of plant, treatment with fruit of Phyllanthus emblica L. (FPE) resulted in the significant increase (p < 0.05) of Cd and Pb concentration in shoots and roots of S. nigrum. In the study of C.asiatica and O. stamineus, copper was highly accumulated in C. asiatica roots while the leaves were more concentrated with zinc and lead. Conversely, all three tested metals (Cu, Zn, Pb) were highly detected in the roots of O. stamineus, although the root elongation was not adversely affected. Low amount of metals in the stems of both species permits longer stem length. Based on the bioaccumulation, translocation and enrichment factor, study showed that C. asiatica was tolerant towards zinc, copper and lead; hence suitable for phytoextraction. By contrast, O. stamineus acted as a moderate accumulator of the tested metal elements. Snapdragon is another medicinal plant with low energy consumption, which has low requirements on environmental factors and strong resistance. This studies provided valuable information on improving the phytoremediation potential of hyperaccumulator.