International Journal of Phytoremediation

ISSN: 1522-6514 (Print) 1549-7879 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/bijp20

Assessment of native plant species for

phytoremediation of heavy metals growing in the
vicinity of NTPC sites, Kahalgaon, India

Alka Kumari, Brij Lal & Upendra Nath Rai

To cite this article: Alka Kumari, Brij Lal & Upendra Nath Rai (2015): Assessment of native plant
species for phytoremediation of heavy metals growing in the vicinity of NTPC sites, Kahalgaon,
India, International Journal of Phytoremediation, DOI: 10.1080/15226514.2015.1086301

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15226514.2015.1086301

Accepted online: 06 Oct 2015.

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Assessment of native plant species for phytoremediation of heavy metals growing in the

vicinity of NTPC sites, Kahalgaon, India

Alka Kumaria*, BrijLala,, Upendra Nath Raib

a
Biodiversity Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource technology, Palampur176 061,

Himachal Pradesh, India

b
Ecotoxicology and Bioremediation Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute,

Lucknow 226 001, Uttar Pradesh, India.

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*Corresponding author:

Dr. Alka Kumari

Biodiversity Division

CSIR--Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology,

Palampur-H.P. 176061, INDIA

Tel: 01894-233339 Ext-329

Mob. +91-9816937373

*E-mail for correspondence: [email protected]; [email protected]

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to screen native plants growing in fly ash (FA)

contaminated areas near National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Kahalgaon, Bihar, India

with a view to using them for the eco-restoration of the area. A total number of 30 plant species

(5 aquatic and 25 terrestrial including 6 ferns) were collected and their diversity status and

dominance were also studied. After screening of dominant species at highly polluted site, 8

terrestrial and 5 aquatic plants were analyzed for heavy metals (Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni, Si, Al, Pb, Cr and

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Cd). Differential accumulations of various heavy metals by different species of plants were

observed. Typha latifolia was found to be most efficient metal accumulator of Fe (927), Cu (58),

Zn (87), Ni (57), Al (67), Cd (95), and Pb (69) and and Azolla pinnata as Cr (93) hyper-

accumulator among aquatic species in µg g-1. In terrestrial species the maximum levels of Fe

(998), Zn (81), Ni (93), Al (121) and Si (156) were found in Croton bonplandium. However,

there was high spatial variability in total metal accumulation in different species indicated by

coefficient of variation (CV%). These results suggest that various aquatic, some dominant
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terrestrial plants including fern species may be used in a synergistic way to remediate and restore

the FA contaminated wastelands.

Keywords: Aquatic plants; Ferns; Fly ash; Spontaneous plant species; Phytoremediation;

Terrestrial plants

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Introduction

Coal-fired thermal power plants have started gaining as a potentially significant anthropogenic

source of fly ash (FA) at global level. In India, FA generation is expected to hike between 150 –

170 million tons per year by the end of 2012 (Pandey et al., 2011). The Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA) estimates that 140 million tons of coal ashes are generated annually. Usually

physico-chemical studies of FA reveals that it contains high electrical conductivity, Bulk density
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and good water holding capacity but it is deficient in N and P content. Although, FA contains

many plant growth essential micronutrient elements that are used in normal plant metabolism

because they are essential constituents of various co-enzymes and food substances like

carbohydrate, fat and protein but unfortunately it also contains toxic heavy metals which roles

are not known in plant metabolism and they pose significant health risks to millions of people.

Depending on used coal types, FA contains a number of heavy metals including arsenic, lead,

mercury, cadmium, chromium and selenium, as well as aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium,

boron, chlorine, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. Arsenic

is one of the most common and dangerous carcinogenic pollutants from coal ash. Therefore FA

can increase high risk of cancer and causes other health hazards to the nearby inhabitants. If

eaten, drunk or inhaled, these toxicants can cause cancer and nervous system impacts such as

cognitive deficits, developmental delays and behavioral problems. They can also cause heart

damage, lung disease, respiratory distress, kidney disease, reproductive problems,

gastrointestinal illness, birth defects, and impaired bone growth in children (EPA 2007, 2010).

Besides, it also causes irritation to eyes, skin, nose, throat, and respiratory tract. Repeated

inhalation of FA dust containing crystalline silica can cause acute bronchitis, silicosis (scarring

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of the lung), severe inflammation of the lung and asthma-like symptoms (Pandey et. al. 2009).

Additionally, FA landfill decants into the nearby water bodies and river through seepage or

leaching increases turbidity, decreases primary productivity, affects fishes and other aquatic

biota(Hopkins et al. 1999; Hopkins et al. 2000; Rowe 1998; Pandey et al. 2011).Since, FA has

been considered as the main source of pollution to the nearby localities of thermal power plants,

so its management becomes imperative from the environmental point of view. Although FA is

being used in various construction activities including land filling and restoration (Pandey and
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Singh, 2010) as well as safe utilization of FA in agricultural areas due to presence of all essential

plant nutrients in ionic forms for increasing crop production. Several field and experimental

studies has also been reported that FA amendment is useful to modify soil pH, improve soil

texture and dilute as well neutralize toxic effects of FA by various biochemical processes and

microbial involvement. Thus, chemical constituents of FA are beneficial for plant growth and

can improve agronomic properties of the soil as well as safe utilization of FA in agriculture

sector (Wong and Wong 1989; Sikka and Kansal, 1995; Pandey et al., 2009). Although

agriculture sector involves huge quantity of FA but even then some parts remains unutilized

which causes severe problems. Therefore, the only cost-effective and green technology

suggested for the management of FA is revegetation of the landfills by FA-tolerant plants, which

serves the purpose of stabilization and provides a pleasant landscape (Rai et al., 2004; Pandey et

al., 2009);

Some researchers have been worked on leguminous plant species for successful re-

vegetating FA landfills. Various leguminous plant species namely, Acacia nilotica, Albizia lebek,

Bauhinia variegata, Cassia siamea, Cassia tora, Dalbergia sissoo, Delonix regia, Embilica

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officinalis, Pithecolobium dulce, and Prosopis julifora etc. has been found suitable for

revegetation of FA dykes (Cheung et al., 2000; Rai et al., 2004; Tripathi et al., 2004;

Jambhulakar & Juwarkar 2009; Agarwal et. al., 2011). Furthermore, some plant species have

also been reported from the abandoned FA dump sites of India (Gupta and Sinha, 2008; Maiti

and Jaiswal, 2008; Rau et al., 2009; Pandey, 2012a, b). Some spontaneously growing grasses and

herbaceous weeds viz. Cynodon dactylon, Borrhevia repens, Achyranthus aspera and Blumea

lacera, which may colonized fast on the dumping sites were also suggested for revegetating
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abandoned FA dykes (Maiti & Nadhani, 2006). Two fern species Pteris vittata and Thelypteris

dentata have also been reported as suitable candidate for phytoremediation of FA contaminated

soil due to its high metal accumulation ability and it could be used for developing vegetation

cover on FA landfills (Kumari et al.,2011, 2014).. Phytoremediation is approximately10 times

less expensive than conventional strategies (Chappell, 1998). So, importance of

phytoremediation has emphasized on further research in exploring the contaminated sites and

finding new hyper-accumulator plants. According to Yoon et al. (2006), naturally growing plant

species on a contaminated site respond better under stress condition than the plants introduced

from other areas in terms of their suitable establishment in changed environment. Besides, the

plant species obtained from such contaminated sites might possess greater potential of metal and

metalloid accumulation (Arica et. al. 2005). In this context, assessment of spontaneous plant

species for the phytoremediation in the vicinity of FA is urgent need to mitigate contamination of

soil and water. Therefore, the present study was carried out to identify FA tolerant ntive species

and their metals accumulation ability in the contaminated sites and further to use them for

phytoremediation as well as eco-restoration purposes of FA landfills.

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2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Study site description

The present study was conducted in the vicinity of FA dumping site at NTPC Kahalgaon, of

Bhagalpur district in the Indian state of Bihar. The study site covers an area of 110 square

kilometers and lies between 25.08082'52" N latitude and 87.2024' 82"E longitude at the southern

bank of river Ganges. The total installed capacity of this power plant is 2340 MW. FA generation
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is 1.82 million tons year-1 and discharged as slurry form in the FA pond. Temperature varies

from 4.1°C to 46.0 °C throughout the year. Total rainfall was 1155 mm annually. During the

sampling the humidity was 65%. Soil type of the study site is sandy alluvial soil with mixture of

highly fertile calcareous soil of course of the Ganga River. This soil type comprises the

association of inceptisols and entisols soil types.

2.2. Sampling of fly ash, plants and their analysis

FA samples were randomly collected.. Hand auger was used as a sampling tool to draw the

sample. Composite samples were taken up to depth of 30 cm. to characterize the heavy metals

and chemical parameters. The samples were collected by hand and intimately mixed on a clean

paper, brought to the laboratory for further processing. Smaller quantities of homogenized

samples (nearly 500 g) were oven dried and sieved by 2 mm stainless steel sieve. The samples

were analyzed for pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, and heavy metals (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn,

Cr, Cd, Pb and Ni) content. The pH and electrical conductivity were determined through pH

meter and conductivity meter by adding distilled water in FA in 1:5 ratio (Piper 1966).Total

organic carbon was done by following the methodology of Walkey and Black (1934).First of all

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plants samples were washed with tap waters, after that repeatedly washed with doubled distilled

water to remove the adhering FA and other contaminants. Plant samples were dried to a constant

weight at 80 °C for 72 hrs. in an oven. Here, we used root + shoot as plant sample. The oven

dried plant samples were ground in to a fine powder. The FA and plant samples were digested

with a diacidic mixture of concentrated nitric acid (HNO3) and perchloric acid (HClO4) (5:1v/v).

After the complete digestion, Milli-Q water was added and left to be cooled. Solute part of the

filtered sample was separated and the volume was made up to 100 ml withMilli-Q water. All the
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plant and FA samples were analyzed in triplicate form. The measurements of nine heavy metal

concentrations i.e. Fe, Zn, Cu, Ni, Si, Al, Pb, Cr and Cd were targeted with Atomic Absorption

Spectrophotometer (Perkin Elmer-2380). The blanks and internal standards were included for

quality control and assurance during heavy metal analysis of samples.

2.3. Evaluation of native plant species for phytoremediation of FA landfills..

The plant species selected for phytoremediation of FA landfills were based on their species

richness and dominance as well as high biomass productivity on FA contaminated sites, which

indicates its better adaptations towards climatologically condition of the area, resistance to high

pH and salinity including heavy metal toxicity. A total number of 30 plant species (5 aquatic, 25

terrestrial) were collected and studied for their diversity status and dominance. The five aquatic

plants were identified as Azolla pinnata, Ceratopteris thalictroides, Hydrilla verticillata,

Marsilea minuta and Typha latifolia. The remaining 25 terrestrial plants were identified as

Achyranthus aspera, Argemone mexicana, Amaranthus spinosa, Ampelopteris prolifera,

Chenopodium album, Cannabis sativa, Cassia tora, Calotropis procera, Croton bonplandianum,

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Cynodon dactylon, Datura metal, Diplazium esculentum, Eclipta prostrata, Erigeron annuus,

Ipomea carnea, Lantana camara, Linum usitassimum, Momardica charantia, Parthenium

hysterophorus, Phylanthus urinaria, Plumbago zeylanica, Polygonum hydropiper, Pteris vittata,

Sachrum munja, and Stellaria indica. Among all the 30 native plants collected from the study

site, 6 species belongs to pteridophyta (ferns) a non flowering plant group i. e. three from

terrestrial groups namely Ampelopteris prolifera, Diplazium esculentum and Pteris vittata and

three from aquatic plants namely Azolla pinnata, Ceratopteris thalictroides and Marsilea minuta.
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After screening of dominant species at highly polluted site, 8 terrestrial plants were selected for

phytoremediation potential of heavy metals. These are Croton bonplandianum, Cannabis sativa,

Cassia tora, Partheniumhysterophorus, Saccharum munja and Ecliptaalba among 25 terrestrial

plants and and all the 5 aquatic species were also selected to check their phytoremediation

potential. Collected plant samples were kept in polybags to bring the laboratory. One set of

healthy plant sample were pressed under wooden plant press for preparation of herbarium. Plant

specimens were identified by following the standard taxonomic flora of Duthie (1960) and Jain

& Rao (1977). The details of diversity status of twenty five terrestrial plants and metal

accumulation of eight selected terrestrial species have been depicted in table 2 and table 3,

respectively. Metal accumulation by five aquatic plants has been mentioned in table 4.

2.4. Statistical analysis

Mean of three estimations with their standard deviation of all the data and analysis of variance

(ANOVA) were carried out by using Statistica 7 software (Stat Soft Inc., Tulsa, Oklahoma,

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USA). When the ANOVA F-test showed significance at P = 0.05 or 0.01 level the differences

among the species were assessed with the least significant difference (LSD) only.

3. Results

3.1. Physico-chemical characteristics of fly ash

Physico-chemical properties of FA, FA polluted soil and water as depicted in table-1 indicated

that the pH of FA was alkaline. Chemically, all naturally existing elements were found in fly ash,
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and is also subsequently enriched in trace elements compared with the parent coal. Among the

elements enriched in ashes are Zn, Fe, Al, Ni, Si, Cu, Pb, Cr and Cd..

Physico-chemical studies of fly ash reveals that it contains high electrical conductivity, Bulk

density and good water holding capacity but it is deficient in N and P content. Although, test FA

samples also contains many plant growth essential micronutrient elements that are useful for

normal plant growth and as merits of fertile soil but it also contains toxic heavy metals which

makes it as problematic solid waste hazards. Despite, the occurrence of some native plant species

have indicated the possibility of its detoxification with phytomanagement techniques.

3.2. Selection of native plants for phytoremediation and eco-restoration of FA landfills.

The plant species selected for bioremediation and eco-restoration of FA landfills were based on

their species richness and dominance as well as having high biomass on FA contaminated sites.

Various plant species have varied distribution and dominance in FA polluted sites (table-2) and it

may be due to different species have different metal tolerance capacity as well as adaptations

towards FA properties. After evaluating all these parameters, present study suggests to select

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following species for phytoremediation and ecorestoration purposes i.e. Croton bonplandianum,

Cassia tora, Cannabis sativa, Partheniumhysterophorus and Saccharum munja has been selected

for the same. Although ferns like Ampelopteris prolifera and Pteris vittata may also be selected

for eco-restoration of fly ash dykes if adequate moisture available. Amongst, aquatic species, all

the five species were dominating and selected for phytoremediation and eco-restoration

purposes.
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3.3. Heavy metal accumulation by different plant species

As a consequence of phytoremediation, plants bind heavy metals and therefore, their

concentration was increased in plants growing naturally on FA polluted soil (table-3 and table-4)

in comparison to some plants growing in unpolluted soil. Metal content in different plant species

indicates that there is high spatial variability among different plants growing in different habitats.

Statistical analysis (CV %) was also found significantly different for different plants and metals.

Terrestrial plants contains comparatively high metal content than aquatic plants and some of the

species were found as hyper-accumulator of a particular metal not of all tested metals.

The comparative metal accumulation ability of different terrestrial species are depicted in table-

3 and it was found that species growing dominantly at highly polluted sites have high metal

accumulation in comparison to rare and common status species. Amongst most dominating

terrestrial plants Croton, Cassia, Cannabis, Parthenium, Sachhrum and Eliptica were found most

efficient heavy metal tolerant plant. Metal accumulation by five aquatic plants growing naturally

in water bodies in FA vicinity was also observed (Table-4). In aquatic plants metal accumulation

was maximum in Typha latifolia as compared to other four species, i.e., Azolla pinnata,

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ceratopteris thallicteroides, Hydrilla verticillata and Marsilea minuta. However, all aquatic

plants accumulated significant metal content but lesser than terrestrial species. During

observation it was also found that some species were hyper-accumulator of a particular metal,

however it tolerates other metals also. For instance Cannabis sativa for Cd, Cr and Ni,

Parthenium hysterophorus for Pb and fern species Ampelopteris prolifera for Ni. Amongst

aquatic plants Ceratopteris thalicteroides for Cd, Marsilea minuta for Cd, Azolla pinnata for Cr

and Typha latifolia was found hyper-accumulator of Zn, Pb and Cd. However, other terrestrial
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and aquatic species accumulated almost all metals in their tissues but they are not recognized as a

hyper-accumulator for a particular heavy metal.

4. Discussion

The result of the physico-chemical analysis revealed that FA was strongly alkaline in nature due

to low sulphur content of Indian coal and due to the presence of hydroxides and carbonates of

calcium and magnesium (Misra and Shukla, 1986), which limits the plant growth but synergistic

approach of primary succession like adequate algal and microbial biodiversity like activity of

Thiobacillus thioxidane reduced its alkalinity by depositing sulphur on FA dumps (Juwarker and

Jambhulkar, 2008) and some weedy species were also found luxuriantly growing on FA dykes.

The pH of FA varies widely by variation of sulphur content of the parent coal and FA of NTPC

units of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was always found alkaline (Kumari, 2007; Tiwari et. al. 2008).

However, in some part of India such as Assam and Gugghus in Chandrapur district and

Khaperkheda Thermal Power plant, Nagpur has acidic FA due to high deposits of Sulphur in coal

(Juwarker and Jambhulkar, 2008). The status of micronutrients of FA revealed that there was

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very meager content of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and organic carbon so it becomes imperative to

provide some supportive source of nutrients like FYM or some chelators like EDTA or DTPA to

enhance its nutrient bioavailability. Similar study on revegetating FA landfills with Prosopis

juliflora L. was done by Rai et al (2004) by different amendments of Rhizobium inoculation to

remove N deficiency in FA dykes.

The present study also revealed that out of 30 native plant species, 10 species have
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extraordinary metal tolerance capacity as well as its better adaptations to FA. These species were

also found as dominant species with maximum species richness and having comparatively high

biomass in highly polluted sites. It was found during study that Cannabis sativa was hyper-

accumulator for Cd, Cr, Al and Ni, in comparison to other selected species. Similar result was

obtained by Citterio et.al. (2003) during growing Cannabis in soils contaminated with Cd, Cr

and Ni. Beside these, present study also indicates it as Al hyper-accumulator. Parthenium

hysterophorus for Pb hyper-accumulation was already reported by Hadi and Bano (2009) and our

result also supports these findings. Fern species Ampelopteris prolifera accumulated more Ni

than other metals. Amongst aquatic plants Ceratopteris thalicteroides for Cd, Marsilea minuta

for Cd (Gupta & Devi, 1995), Azolla pinnata for Cr (Arora et al. 2006) and Typha latifolia was

found hyper-accumulator of Ni, Zn, Fe, Mn, Mg, and Ca by Taylor and Crowder (1983) and also

found hyper-accumulator of Zn, Cu, Pb, Cr and Cd (Manios et al., 2003; Sasmaz et al., 2008;

Pandey et al., 2014). Abhilash et al. (2009) also demonstrated that Limnocharis flava is a suitable

plant for the phytofiltration of low-level Cd contamination from water. However, other terrestrial

and aquatic species accumulated almost all metals in their tissues but they are not recognized as a

hyper-accumulator for a particular heavy metal. The results of the heavy metal accumulation in

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different plant species indicated that all the species accumulated more Fe and Si due to presence

of high bioavailability of these metals in FA. In case of the toxic metal accumulation also,

different plant species indicated a wide variation range amongst the species and metals. The

metal accumulation sequence was almost different in species to species like most dominant

species Croton bonplandianum have Fe>Si> Al>Ni>ZN>Pb>Cr>Cu>Cd, while the sequence in

Cannabis sativa was found as Fe>Si>Cd>Cr>Ni>Zn> Cu>Al> Pb. The sequence in Parthenium

hysterophorus and Cassia tora was found as Fe>Si>Pb>Al>Zn>Cu>Cd>Cr>Ni and

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Fe>Si>Zn>Cu>Al>Ni>Cr>Cd>pb respectively. Amongst aquatic species Typha latifolia the

most dominant species contains Fe>Zn>Si>Cu>Pb>Cd>Al>Ni>Cr. Similarly other different

species contains different accumulation series. But the order of heavy metal accumulation ability

in total selected terrestrial species was Croton bonplandianum>Canabis sativa>Parthenium

hysterophorus>Cassia tora>Saccharum Munja> Ampelopteris prolifera>Eclipta prostrata

>Pteris vittata>Cyanodon dactylon while in aquatic species it was as Typha latifolia>Hydrilla

verticillata>Azolla pinnata>Ceratopteris thalicteridoides>Marsilea minuta.

In spite of high metal accumulation all selected species were growing luxuriantly on FA dykes

without showing any visual phytotoxic symptoms indicating that these species have specific

metal detoxification mechanisms to detoxify high metal levels accumulated in the cell (Raskin et

al., 1994). Further higher plants have developed different types of metal-binding legends such as

amino acids, citric acid, malic acid and phytochelatins (Neumann et al, 1994). Phytochelatins are

metal-induced sluphohydril rich complex peptides, which appear to be dominant mechanism of

metal detoxification in plants (Mehra and Tripathi, 2000).

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5. Conclusions

The FA of Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur was alkaline in nature due to less sulphur content in coal.

Despite of alkaline nature of FA, several terrestrial species were found naturally growing,

perhaps due to presence of high microbial and algal activities, which enhanced sulphur content

of FA and further a rich vegetation cover of 30 native plants were established on the site. All

species accumulated high metal content without any visual phytotoxic symptoms which indicates
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internal detoxification mechanism in selected plants. Current findings provide an alternative

option to use these species in surface stabilization programme, which reduced the wind-blown

fall out of FA by developing a canopy of vegetation of metal tolerant plants. The present study

suggested that all selected terrestrial species viz. Croton, Canabis, Parthenium, Cassia tora,

Saccharum munja, Ampelopteris prolifera, Elliptica alba, Pteris vittata and Cyanodon dactylon

are suitable for revegetation of metal contaminated wastelends and also may be used for

decontamination purposes. Similarly, in aquatic species Typha latifolia, Hydrilla verticillata,

Azolla pinnata, Ceratopteris thicteridoides and Marsilea minuta were selected for phytofiltration

of water bodies contaminated with heavy metals.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the kind support and encouragement extended by Dr. P S Ahuja,

Director, IHBT Palampur, H.P. Alka Kumari is thankful to Department of Science &

Technology, New Delhi, India for financial support provided under WOS-A Scheme (SR/FT/LS-

117/2008).

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Table 1: Physico-chemical properties of fly ash, fly ash contaminated soil and water body

nearby ash pond of NTPC Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur.

Parameters FA FA contaminated soil FA polluted water body

pH 8.70.35 7.80.07 8.90.05

EC 7.510.31 3.60.05 3.90.03
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CEC 1.340.23 1.970.03 ---

Organic Carbon (%) 1.150.039 2.250.02 ---

WHC (%) 38.540.51 45.280.33 ---

Metals (g/g)

Zn 872.1 49.50.02 390.13

Fe 4355205 2207113 179797.5
Si 5750285 178937.5 132725.5
Ni 1989.31 980.16 870.11
Cr 29.3±2.8 540.03 430.09
Cu 88.54.53 510.01 580.15
Cd 39.53.12 150.02 270.05
Pb 43.53.5 290.03 390.11
Al 4455217 56819.1 63821.3

Values are Mean of triplicates  SD (n=3)

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Table 2. Distribution and dominance of different terrestrial plants on fly ash polluted sites

of NTPC Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur.

Taxon Status Habitat Dominance (D)

(No/ha)
Achyranthus aspera L. C MPS only 187.25
Argemone mexicana L. D MPS and HPS both 478.75
Amaranthus spinusa L. C HPS 237.35
Ampelopteris prolifera D MPS and HPS both 639.58
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(Copel.) retz.
Chenopodium album L. C MPS only 167.34
Cannabis sativa L. D MPS and HPS both 735.37
Cassia tora L. D HPS only 695.75
Calotropis procera Aiton C MPS and HPS both 225.25
Croton bonplandianum Bail. D HPS only 938.35
Cynodon dactylon (L.)Pers. C MPS only 137.53
Datura metal L. C MPS and HPS both 237.27
Diplazium esculentum C MPS and HPS both 305.43
(Retz.)Sw.
Eclipta prostrata L. D MPS and HPS both 749.74
Erigeron annuus (L.)Pers. C MPS and HPS both 369.93
Ipomea carnea Jace. R MPS and HPS both 158.27
Lantana camara L. C MPS only 247.49
Linum usitassimumL. R MPS only 118.55
Momardica charantia L. R MPS only 110.45
Parthenium hysterophorus L. D MPS and HPS both 795.35
Phylanthus urinaria L. D HPS only 878.35
Plumbago zeylanica L. R MPS only 137.33
Polygonum hydropiper L. R MPS only 215.34
Pteris vittata L. D MPS and HPS both 507.48
Sachrum munja Roxb. D HPS only 715.55
Stellaria indica (L.)Vill. R MPS only 175.57
HPS= Highly polluted site, MPS= Moderately polluted site; D= Dominant (>75%);

C=Common (40-75%); R=Rare (<40%)

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Table 3. Heavy metal accumulation by eight selected dominating terrestrial plants collected

from fly ash polluted sites of NTPC Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur.

Te Terrestrial Fe Cu Zn Ni Al Cr Pb Cd Si
plants

C Croton 998 46  81 93  124  63  77  37.3 156 

bonplandianum 9.4a 5.1b 5.5a 8.1a 2a 13ab 4.5bc 3.5 9.7
C Cannabis 895.9b 33  63  78 45 49  29 31.5  139 
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sativa 4bc 9bc 8.6b 13d 7c 1.5d 3.5 11.5

Pa Parthenium 7988bc 59  68  31  97.7  36  149  44  135 
hysterophorus 3.5a 7b 3.5d 9ab 6d 9.8a 5.5 9.3
Cassia tora 6769c 29.5 72  56  94 78  108 53 107 
3c 7ab 8.5c 8b 7a 9.3b 6.5 8.9
Sa Saccharum 513 28  46  42  57  66  62  49 87 
munja 5cd 3.6c 5cd 6bc 9cd 5b 8.7c 5.5 6.9
Ecl Eclipta alba 4799d 35.7  40± 39 49 32 27 38 79
5bc 4d 2d 4d 2d 1d 3.6 5.7
Am 7989bc 47  55 76 63 45 3c 38 41 117
Ampelopteris 4.5a 5.5c 6b 5c 2d 4.5 9.5
prolifera
Pte Pteris 6898c 42 61  67 75 59 45 63 95
vittata 3.5b 3bc 5bc 5bc 4bc 3cd 5.5 8.5
CD CD 5% 25.57 ----- 10.15 11.34 11.85 10.25 --- 13.25 21.39
C CD 1% 32.25 ----- 15.37 17.39 18.25 14.55 --- 19.35 31.13
f pr f Probab. 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.0001 0.000 0.000 0.000
f v f Values 415.5 3.55 22.85 42.58 35.98 15.25 4.57 36.75 32.41
CV CV % 6.745 13.532 8.565 7.952 6.875 8.542 12.125 9.57 5.644
Significantly different at 1% level

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For Si plz. see the separate attached table-3.

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Table 4. Heavy metal accumulation by different aquatic plants collected from fly ash

polluted water bodies of NTPC Kahalgaon, Bhagalpur.

Aquatic Fe Cu Zn Ni Al Cr Pb Cd Si
plants
Ceratopter 51539 392. 455.8 495.5 535.7 47  33  4d 978.5 13811.
d
is 6c b b b
9.7c a
3
thalictroid
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es
Hydrilla 68731 4229 479.5 384.1 478.5 65  46  342.3 1279.2
c b b c b
verticillata 2.9b 3bc b

Marsilea 71150 4717 775.5 362.1 652.3 47 3911. 1039 11211.

minuta b b a c a
1.5c 5c a
6
Typha 92751 5813 876.8 575.5 6711 69  69  956.8 119 
a a a a a
latifolia 5.4b 6.6a a
9.5
Azolla 54825 343. 493.9 455.9 494.4 93  58  395.8 65  3.9
dc
pinnata 7c b b b
41a 2.4b b

CD 5% 34.75 NS 12.14 7.35 15.52 19.05 11.34 13.55 20.65

CD 1% 51.55 NS 19.47 8.85 22.35 29.45 12.27 29.35 30.07
f probab. 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000
f values 382.96 3.35 119.54 637.52 81.05 28.55 155.25 10.21 24.75
  

CV% 2.95 12.66 7. 32 3.89 7.45 13.81 5. 81 14.65 10.35

Significantly different at 1% level

For Si plz. see the separate attached table-4.

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