Study of some biochemical and physiological responses of Hydrocotyle vulgaris during treatment by an organic pollutant: investigation of the plant efficiency in green remediation with environmental changes

Phytoremediation is a low-cost and effective technology that removes pollutants, such as dye-containing effluents, from the environment through the use of plants. In the present study, the potential of Hydrocotyle vulgaris L. in biodegradation of malachite green dye was evaluated. The results revealed that the plant capability in decolorization of the dye is as high as 90%. Moreover, high ability of the plant in consecutive removal in long term repetitive experiments confirmed the dye biodegradation by the plant. Some biochemical and physiological responses of the plant treated with different concentrations of the contaminant were studied and the results showed that increasing in the dye concentration could lead to the notable increase in the activities of superoide dismutase and peoxidase enzymes, confirming important role of these two enzymes in plant adaptation to existence of malachite green in the environment. Additionally, it was found that enhance in plant biomass, temperature and pH could lead to the increase in decolorization efficiency. In contrast, increasing in the dye initial concentration led to the increase of C/C0.