The natural potential of
Chrysanthemum indicum
L. for the clean-up of lead-contaminated soil was
investigated under pot experiment. Maximum applied lead
(at 50 mg/kg) caused significant reduction in the plant
height (31.71 %), root length (31.15 %) and dry biomass
(32.71 and 41.25 % for root and shoot, respectively);
however, minimum applied lead (at 10 mg/kg) promoted
the growth of plants to some extent, over the respective
control pots. Lead concentration in the tissues followed the
order as root>shoot>flower. The combinatorial treatment
T16 (50 mg/kg Pb, 0.8 g/kg elemental sulphur and 6 g/kg
vermicompost) caused maximum concentration of lead in
root, shoot and flower up to the extent of 43.58, 22.45 and
9.62 mg/kg, respectively, leading to the maximum bioaccumulation
factor (0.38). However, the combinatorial
treatment
T4 (sulphur and vermicompost) showed maximum
translocation factor (0.63) and
T12 (20 mg/kg lead,
0.8 g/kg elemental sulphur and 6 g/kg vermicompost)
produced maximum remediation ratio (0.153). The combinatorial
treatments under lead-contaminated (10–50 mg/
kg) soils showed higher remediation efficiency indicating
enhanced clean-up of the aforesaid soils through
C. indicum
L. Applied lead (>20 mg/kg) altered the chlorophylla,
chlorophyll-b and carotenoid contents of the plants.
Hence, the authors conclude that a non-edible ornamental
plant,
C. indicum L., is preferred to be safely grown in
moderately lead-contaminated soils along with application
of elemental sulphur and vermicompost, which will boost
the photosynthetic pigments of the plants, leading to
enhanced clean-up of the lead-contaminated soil.
