A Comparison of Two Potential Lead Bioremediating Plants

Overview

Objectives/Goals The problem I tested in my experiment was whether morning glory or Indian Mustard Greens were the most effective bioremediator of lead. Methods/Materials To test this problem, I planted both morning glory and Indian Mustard Greens seeds in two test beds of soils containing lead at concentrations of 990ppm and 330ppm. Each week I took measurements of height and counted the number of sprouts in each section. After 3 weeks, there was finally enough plant mass to do an XRF test, and from weeks four to six I harvested a portion of the plants and conducted weekly XRF tests to check the lead content. At the end of week six, all of the plants were uprooted, the roots were cut off, all of the excess dirt washed off, and they were dried and tested. Results The results showed that, of plants raised in the soil with 990ppm of lead, Indian Mustard Greens (with 7.28ppm) had almost double the amount of lead as in the morning glory (4.23ppm). In the soil with 330ppm morning glory had 4.93ppm of lead to the Indian Mustard Greens 3.19ppm of lead. Conclusions/Discussion Overall I concluded Indian Mustard Greens were the more effective bioremediator of lead. It is notable that while the Indian Mustard Greens showed more ill effects of the lead (including distressed leaves), they grew more robustly and generated more plant mass than the morning glory.

Awards (1)

• First Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2007 Environmental Engineering · Entry J0924

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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