Assessment of hyperaccumulator plants in native flora grown around the solid waste open dumpsite in District Karak, Pakistan

Rapid industrialization and urbanization have caused serious threat to our environment and open dumpsites are one of the main sources polluting our environmental factor by releasing heavy metals into water, air and soil. Phytoremediation is a novel and ecofriendly approach to remediate heavy metals pollution. The current study was carried out to investigate phytoremediation potential of native plants growing around the municipal solid waste open dumpsite in district Karak. Four dominant plants species namely Astragalus creticus Lam, Allium carolinianum DC, Arisaema jacquemontii Blume and A. spinosus along with soil samples were assessed for three heavy metals Chromium (Cr), Nickel (Ni) and Iron (Fe) using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Principle component analysis and correlation model was used to find associations between heavy metals uptake pattern and plant species. Phytoremediation potential of the studied plants were calculated through translocation factor (TF), bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC). The results shows that Fe had the highest mean concentration of 1465.6±161 mg/kg-1 in dumpsite soil followed by Cr and Ni with mean concentration and standard deviation of 1184±295 mg/kg-1 and 273±164 mg/kg-1, respectively. Similarly, based TF, BAC and BAF all the analyzed plant species were hyperaccumlator for Cr and only accumulator for Ni and Fe. The study concluded that Astragalus creticus Lam Allium carolinianum DC, Arisaema jacquemontii Blume and A. spinosus has the potential candidate to remediate Cr, Ni and Fe metals pollution.