SMITA PATHAK, PRADEEP BANSAL AND S.S. YADAV
Abstract
Bioremediation is use of living organisms to remove contaminants from soils and groundwater. It is an emerging green technology for remediation of contaminated soils and water. Many aquatic plants viz. Lemna minor L., Eichhorniacrassipes(Mart.) Solms and Hydrilla verticillata(L.f.) Royle etc. have been successfully used for removal of pollutants in general and heavy metals in particular. The present study involves a laboratory experiment on the efficiency of the duckweed (L. minor) in remediation of copper (Cu) contaminated water. Duckweed was exposed to different concentrations (5.0, 10 and 20 ppm of biomass) of copper (CuSO4) at 2 days and 4 days exposure during winter and summer season. Significant increase in metal uptake was observed ranged from 13.17 to 45.56 mg g-1 DW to 18.90 to 53.33 mg g-1 DW from 5 ppm to 20 ppm at 2 days and 4 days exposure respectively during winter season. While in summer metal uptake was observed from 12.96 to 44.85 mg g-1 DW at 2 days and from 18.50 to 52.90 mg g-1 DW at 4 days exposure. The overall results suggest that winter season is more suitable for uptake of Cu in L. minor.