Evaluation of tolerance and remediation of ornamental kale to heavy metals in the process of development

Todays, the accumulation and toxicity of heavy metals in the environment and food chain is one of the most major problems in the world. Recently, remediation of these metals have been considered by the plants. This study was performed in two experiments. Lead, zinc and copper concentrations 0, 20, 50, 100 and 200 mg/l was applied during seed germination of ornamental cabbage, in the first experiment. In the second experiment, tolerance and remediation of ornamental cabbage to lead, zinc and copper concentrations 0, 25, 50 mg/l were investigated at the greenhouse conditions. In the first experiment with increasing concentrations of heavy metals, growth of seedlings was decreased. The highest seedling growth inhibitory effect was observed in the presence of copper, lead and zinc, respectively. In greenhouse experiments, the highest growth and lowest toxicity were observed in the presence of Cu, Zn and Pb, respectively in the media contained vermicompost. Amount of Cu and Pb uptake was found more in the bed without vermicompost. The achieved results indicated that ornamental cabbage could be as new plant hyperaccumulator and has potential for use in the Phytoremediation study of Pb and Cu contaminated soils.