Assessment of the heavy metal extractive abilities of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes)

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Omolara T. Aladesanmi, Ecology Department, Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, Olumuyiwa A. Ikuoye, Oluwatosin A. Adedeji and Olukunmi F. Fasoyo, Institute of Ecology and Environmental Studies, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria, Nigeria

Background/Question/Methods
Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is one of the aquatic macrophytes successfully used for metal uptake usually between two to three weeks. The present study investigated the potential of water hyacinth to remove Zinc, Chromium and Nickel in contaminated water over a period of 30 days with emphasis on the removal efficiency. The evaluation of percentage removal efficiency, bio-concentration factor, translocation factor, metal uptake efficiency (MUE) and its antioxidant activity were done.
Results/Conclusions
Experimental results showed that the water hyacinth was capable of removing 68.75–98.79%, 49.09 – 88.38% and 72.02 – 84.93% of Zn, Cr and Ni from media depending upon their initial concentrations. The plant accumulated the highest concentration of these metals in their roots than in their shoots. The bioconcentration factor for Zn, Cr and Ni was greater than one across all levels of treatment, while the translocation factor did not exceed one, indicating the potential of water hyacinth for phytostabilization of these metals. Water hyacinth show a promising antioxidant activity by both catalase and superoxide dismutase in the root and shoot under pollution stress. The study concluded that water hyacinth is a good accumulator of Zn but moderate accumulator of Cr and Ni. Catalase and superoxide exhibited phyto-protective roles in water hyacinth exposed to Zn, Cr and Ni.