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. 2020 Oct 29;9(11):1458.
doi: 10.3390/plants9111458.

Screening of Native Plants Growing on a Pb/Zn Mining Area in Eastern Morocco: Perspectives for Phytoremediation

Said El Hasnaoui  1   2 , Mouna Fahr  1   2 , Catherine Keller  2   3 , Clément Levard  2   3 , Bernard Angeletti  2   3 , Perrine Chaurand  2   3 , Zine El Abidine Triqui  1   2 , Abdelkarim Guedira  1   2 , Laila Rhazi  4 , Fabrice Colin  2   3 , Abdelaziz Smouni  1   2
Affiliations

Screening of Native Plants Growing on a Pb/Zn Mining Area in Eastern Morocco: Perspectives for Phytoremediation

Said El Hasnaoui et al. Plants (Basel). .

Abstract

Screening of native plant species from mining sites can lead to identify suitable plants for phytoremediation approaches. In this study, we assayed heavy metals tolerance and accumulation in native and dominant plants growing on abandoned Pb/Zn mining site in eastern Morocco. Soil samples and native plants were collected and analyzed for As, Cd, Cu, Ni, Sb, Pb, and Zn concentrations. Bioconcentration factor (BCF), translocation factor (TF), and biological accumulation coefficient (BAC) were determined for each element. Our results showed that soils present low organic matter content combined with high levels of heavy metals especially Pb and Zn due to past extraction activities. Native and dominant plants sampled in these areas were classified into 14 species and eight families. Principal components analysis separated Artemisia herba-alba with high concentrations of As, Cd, Cu, Ni, and Pb in shoots from other species. Four plant species, namely, Reseda alba, Cistus libanotis, Stipa tenacissima, and Artemisia herba-alba showed strong capacity to tolerate and hyperaccumulate heavy metals, especially Pb, in their tissues. According to BCF, TF, and BAC, these plant species could be used as effective plants for Pb phytoextraction. Stipa tenacissima and Artemisia herba-alba are better suited for phytostabilization of Cd/Cu and Cu/Zn, respectively. Our study shows that several spontaneous and native plants growing on Pb/Zn contaminated sites have a good potential for developing heavy metals phytoremediation strategies.

Keywords: Pb/Zn mining area; heavy metal; hyperaccumulation; native plants; phytoextraction; phytostabilization; tolerance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Plant and soil sampling area at Oued el Heimer site.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plant and soil sampling area at Touissite site.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Geology of the Touissite area (Ministry of energy and mines geology department, 1985).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Plot of axes 1 and 2 of the principal components analysis (PCA) on the means of the metals concentrations separately in the shoots (A) and the roots (B) for the studied species. Abbreviation of species names: Ag.Alo: Agathophora alopecuroides; Ci.lib: Cistus libanotus; Ca.bur_T: Capsella bursa-pastoris Touissite site; Ca.bur_O: Capsella bursa-pastoris Oued El Heimer site; Lo.cor: Lotus corniculatus; Ph.com: Phragmites communis; He.spi: Hedysarum spinosissimum; Co.alt: Convolvulus althaeoides; Re.alb: Reseda alba; Sc.his: Scolymus hispanicus; Ra.rig: Rapistrum rigosum; Hi.inc: Hirschfeldia incana; St.ten: Stipa tenacissima; Ar.her: Artemisia herba-alba.
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