WAGDI SABER SOLIMAN2 AND SHU-ICHI SUGIYAMA
Abstract
Screening for effective plant as hyper-accumulators of heavy metals is an important challenge for cleaning the contaminated soil and water. In this study, phytoremediation of Moringa plant was examined. Plants were exposed to 0, 5, 10 and 50 μM Cd stress. Seeds were pretreated with 1 mM ascorbic acid, 10 mM CaCl2, or water. Shoots and roots dry mass were not affected significantly under stress. Ascorbic acid showed higher Cd in leaves and lower Cd in root compared to control and CaCl2 treatment. Although Ca/Mg ratios correlated positively with Cd accumulation, Ca/Mg ratio in leaves correlated negatively with accumulated-Cd in roots. These results indicated tolerance and phytoremediation ability of Moringa under Cd stress. Ca/Mg is important for understanding Cd accumulation in Moringa. Ascorbic acid may play role for enhancing extraction remediation of Cd. We suggest moringa as a good hyper-accumulator with using the leaves in nonnutritive purposes.