Phytoextraction of Chromium from contaminated soil by Zea mays as influenced by chelating agents Ramprakash1,*, Kumari Sachin2, Kumari Sushil3, Sangwan A.1, Singh Anoop1 1Department of Soil Science, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India 2Department of Agriculture Chemistry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004 3Department of Agroforestry, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India *Corresponding author e-mail: ramsansanwal@gmail.com
Online published on 16 February, 2013. Abstract A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of amendments on phytoextraction of Cr by Zea mays using CDTA, Citric acid, DTPA, NTA (at 10 mmol kg −1 soil) and FYM (3%). Dry matter yield of roots and shoots of Zea mays increased due to application of FYM and CDTA whereas reverse trend was observed in NTA, Citric acid and DTPA treated soils. Addition of sewage sludge (3% on dry weight basis) was found beneficial in improving the plant growth. Chelating agents enhanced the Cr uptake by both roots and shoots. Significantly higher values of Cr uptake by roots and shoots were observed from amended as compared to sewage sludge unamended soil. Application of CDTA was found more effective in enhancing the Cr uptake by roots and shoots of Zea mays than any other chelating agents at both the growth stages. Hence, marginally Cr contaminated soil may be remediated by adding chelating agents. Top Keywords Chelating agents, Chromium, Phytoextraction, Zea mays. Top |