title: The effect of EDTA and citric acid on phytoremediation of Cd, Cr, and Ni from soil using Helianthus annuus.
abstract: The possibility to clean heavy metal contaminated soils with hyperaccumulator plants has shown great potential. One of the most recently studied species used in phytoremediation applications are sunflowers. In this study, two cultivars of Helianthus annuus were used in conjunction with ethylene diamine tetracetic acid (EDTA) and citric acid (CA) as chelators. Two different concentrations of the chelators were studied for enhancing the uptake and translocation of Cd, Cr, and Ni from a silty-clay loam soil. When 1.0 g/kg CA was used, the highest total metal uptake was only 0.65 mg. Increasing the CA concentration posed a severe phytotoxicity to both cultivars as evidenced by stunted growth and diminished uptake rates. Decreasing the CA concentration to 0.1 and 0.3 g/kg yielded results that were not statistically different from the control. EDTA at a concentration of 0.1 g/kg yielded the best results for both cultivars achieving a total metal uptake of approximately 0.73 mg compared to approximately 0.40 mg when EDTA was present at 0.3 g/kg.
authors.affiliation: Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Agriculture, 09100 Aydin, Turkey.
authors.forename: Cafer
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Turgut
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katie Pepe
authors.forename: Teresa J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Cutright
mesh_terms: D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D002104:Cadmium; D002614:Chelating Agents; D002857:Chromium; D019343:Citric Acid; D004492:Edetic Acid; D006368:Helianthus; D008670:Metals; D009532:Nickel; D012989:Soil Pollutants
chemical_list: D002614:Chelating Agents; D008670:Metals; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002104:Cadmium; D002857:Chromium; D019343:Citric Acid; D009532:Nickel; D004492:Edetic Acid