Effect of Biochar and Municipal Waste Compost on Ziziphus Spina-Christi (L.) Willd heavy metals and total petroleum hydrocarbons phytoremediation

Water and soil contamination by petroleum compounds are important due to their toxicity and carcinogenic. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of biochar and compost on phytoremediation of heavy metal and total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) by Ziziphus spina-christi (L.) Willd.  In this study, one-year old Z. spina-christi seedlings were selected and 0, 1 and 2 percent of biochar and compost were used to evaluate the phytoremediation. Experiment were performed total randomized block design with three replications. One way ANOVA (Analysis of variance) was used for analysis. Our results indicated the significant effect of biochar and compost on phytoremediation ability of Z. spina-christi. The largest and the smallest values of soil TPH were belonged to control and two percent compost, respectively. Also, concentration of nickel in soil was the smallest in one percent biochar compared to the other treatments. While, the largest value of nickel belonged to the control. Furthermore, the least and the highest values of vanadium belonged to one percent compost and control, respectively. Our result indicated the importance of soil biochar and compost to improving Z. spina-christi phytoremediation of petroleum contaminated soils.