Phytoextraction of Weathered p,p′-DDE by Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) and Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Under Different Cultivation Conditions

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) under field conditions are good and poor accumulators, respectively, of persistent organic pollutants from soil. Here, each species was grown under three cultivation regimes: dense (five plants in 5 kg soil); nondense (one plant in 80 kg soil); and field conditions (two to three plants in approximately 789 kg soil). p,p′-DDE and inorganic element content in roots, stems, leaves, and fruit were determined. In addition, rhizosphere, near-root, and unvegetated soil fractions were analyzed for concentrations of 11 low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOA) and 14 water-extractable inorganic elements. Under field conditions, zucchini phytoextracted 1.3% of the weathered p,p′-DDE with 98% of the contaminant in the aerial tissues. Conversely, cucumber removed 0.09% of the p,p′-DDE under field conditions with 83% in the aerial tissues. Under dense cultivation, cucumber produced a fine and fibrous root system not observed in our previous experiments and phytoextracted 0.78% of the contaminant, whereas zucchini removed only 0.59% under similar conditions. However, cucumber roots translocated only 5.7% of the pollutant to the shoot system, while in zucchini 48% of the p,p′-DDE in the plant was present in the aerial tissue. For each species, the concentrations of LMWOA in soil increased with increasing impact by the root system both within a given cultivation regime (i.e., rhizosphere > near-root > unvegetated) and across cultivation regimes (i.e., dense > nondense > field conditions). Under dense cultivation, the rhizosphere concentrations of LMWOAs were significantly greater for cucumber than for zucchini; no species differences were evident in the other two cultivation regimes. To enable direct comparison across cultivation regimes, total in planta p,p′-DDE and inorganic elements were mass normalized or multiplied by the ratio of plant mass to soil mass. For cucumber, differences in total p,p′-DDE and inorganic element content among the cultivation regimes largely disappear upon mass normalization, indicating that greater uptake of both types of constituents in the dense condition is due to greater plant biomass per unit soil. Conversely, for zucchini the mass normalized content of p,p′-DDE and inorganic elements is up to two orders of magnitude greater under field conditions than under dense cultivation, indicating a unique physiological response of C. pepo in the field. The role of cultivation conditions and nutrient availability in controlling root morphology, organic acid exudation, and contaminant uptake is discussed.

Keywords:

• phytoremediation
• phytoextraction
• persistent organic pollutants (POPs)
• Cucurbita pepo.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was partially funded through EPA STAR Grant R829405. We thank Lydia T. Wagner, Craig Musante, and Michael Short for technical assistance and Neil Schultes for intellectual contributions.

Notes

^a Values in parentheses are standard deviation of triplicate samples.

^b Not available; no fruit were produced under this cultivation.

^a Within a cultivation regime and tissue type, but across species. Values followed by a different letter are significantly different (t-test, 0.05).

^a Within a cultivation regime and tissue type, but across species. Values followed by a different letter are significantly different (t-test, 0.05).

^a Each value is normalized to the quantity of each element released from the nonvegetated control soil. Within a species and cultivation, values followed by “A” are significantly different from the nonvegetated control. Within a species a cultivation.

^b ND = not detected.

^c NA = samples not available due to experimental error.

“*”indicates a significant difference between RZ and NR.