Jornal de Fisiologia e Patologia Vegetal

Phytoaccumulation of Chromium and Copper by Mentha spicata L.

N Thivya, K V Srilakshmi, S Bhuvaneswari and T Leon Stephan Raj

Phytoaccumulation of Chromium and Copper by Mentha spicata L.

This paper reports a study of heavy metal absorption by Mentha spicata. M. spicata was grown in garden soil. The soil was treated with different concentrations (20 mg/l, 40 mg/l, 60 mg/l and 80 mg/l)of chromium and copper solutions. The effect of the application of the above two heavy metals was studied after 10 days of the treatment.Chromium and copper exerted toxic effects on the growth and physical parameters of Mentha spicata. M. spicata functioned as a hyper accumulator of chromium and copper. The results indicated that the reduction of growth parameters was inversely related to concentration of the heavy metals.