Capacity of the macrophytes Lemna minor and Eichhornia crassipes to remove nickel

Received March 9th 2011 // Accepted October 14th 2011 // Published online april 11th 2012

BRES, P.; CRESPO, D.; RIZZO P.; LA ROSSA, R.

Abstract
The aim of this work was to study the capacity of two macrophyte species, Lemna minor and Eichhornia
crassipes to remove nickel. Four treatments were carried out for two weeks with each species: plants were
either incubated with 0, 1, 3 and 6 mgl-1 de Ni. All treatments with both plants showed a decrease in Ni concentration
over time. L. minor proved to be more efficient to remove the ion at the lowest concentration. At higher
concentrations, however, no differences were observed between both species. The analysis of plant tissue
showed that plants accumulated the metal at the three concentrations evaluated.
Keywords: Phytoremediation; heavy metals; aquatic plants; accumulation.

Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA) – Instituto de Microbiología y Zoología Agrícola (IMYZA).
Adress: Nicolas Repetto y De los Reseros S/Nº. 1712 Castelar, Argentina. E-mail mailto.pbres@cnia.inta.gov.ar