Lead, Chromium and Manganese Removal by in Vitro Root Cultures of Two Aquatic Macrophytes Species: Typha Latifolia L. and Scirpus Americanus Pers.

Abstract

The ability of in vitro roots cultures of Typha latifolia and Scirpus americanus to remove metals was studied. Roots were cultivated on Murashige-Skoog medium with 15 μg L⁻¹ Cr III, 60 μg L⁻¹ Pb II or 1.8 mg L⁻¹ Mn II. Adsorbed metal to root surface was removed by washing with 0.042% HNO₃. T. latifolia roots were able to uptake 68.8 μg Pb g⁻¹, 22.1 μg Cr g⁻¹ and 1680 μg Mn g⁻¹, while the S. americanus roots removed 148.3 μg Pb g⁻¹, 40.7 μg Cr g⁻¹ and 4037 μg Mn g⁻¹. About 80–90% of Pb and Cr were absorbed in both cultures. On the contrary, the Mn removal was due mainly to an adsorption process (82–86%). In comparison to the T. latifolia cultures, S. americanus cultures were two fold more efficient to remove Pb and Cr, and three fold more efficient to remove Mn. Both plant species capture metals in the following order: Cr >Pb >Mn. This investigation confirms that in vitro roots cultures could be an alternative as a phytoremediation approach for contaminated water with heavy metals.

KEY WORDS:

• heavy metals
• in vitro root cultures
• Typha latifolia
• Scirpus americanus

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank to Dr. María Guadalupe de la Rosa-Álvarez and Dr. Hector Gordon Pallenius for the critical review of paper. We also thank to CONACYT for the scholarship to MCBC (No. 192884).