Phytodepuration of Nitrate Contaminated Water Using Four Different Tree Species
2021
Luca Regni | Maria Luce Bartucca | Euro Pannacci | Francesco Tei | Daniele Del Buono | Primo Proietti
Water pollution by excessive amounts of nitrate (NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup>) has become a global issue. Technologies to clean up nitrate-contaminated water bodies include phytoremediation. In this context, this research aimed to evaluate four tree species (<i>Salix alba</i> L., <i>Populus alba</i> L., <i>Corylus avellana</i> L. and <i>Sambucus nigra</i> L.) to remediate nitrate-contaminated waters (100 and 300 mg L<sup>−1</sup>). Some physiological parameters showed that <i>S. alba</i> L. and <i>P. alba</i> L. increased particularly photosynthetic activity, chlorophyll content, dry weight, and transpired water, following the treatments with the above NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> concentrations. Furthermore, these species were more efficient than the others studied in the phytodepuration of water contaminated by the two NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> levels. In particular, within 15 days of treatment, <i>S. alba</i> L. and <i>P. alba</i> L. removed nitrate quantities ranging from 39 to 78%. Differently, <i>C. avellana</i> L. and <i>S. nigra</i> L. did not show particular responses regarding the physiological traits studied. Nonetheless, these species removed up to 30% of nitrate from water. In conclusion, these data provide exciting indications on the chance of using <i>S. alba</i> L. and <i>P. alba</i> L. to populate buffer strips to avoid NO<sub>3</sub><sup>−</sup> environmental dispersion in agricultural areas.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Directory of Open Access Journals