Author(s):

Shabana Askari, Nazneen Arif and Suad Naheed

Abstract: Contamination of agricultural land by mercury has become a threat to all living beings in some way or the other. Utilization of low cost domestic organic wastes like tea waste and potato peels for the neutralization of mercury toxicity from soil is the recent and promising detoxification method which is easy to apply and have no side effects. The present study discusses the capabilities of tea waste and potato peels to remove heavy metal mercury from Phaseolus vulgaris growing in green house in a randomized block design. The experimental plants were supplied with varying concentrations of mercury ie., 0, 10, 20, 30 ppm Hg whereas one set of treated plants was provided with 6gm of tea waste and other set with potato peels in same amount with all applied concentrations of mercury. The data revealed that adapting this free of cost organic waste strategy for detoxification of mercury was very significant. Rate of germination, rate of growth with respect to root and shoot length, leaf area, chlorophyll contents, free carbohydrates, proline and phenol contents were determined and found significantly improved under this dynamic technology. Results showed that tea waste has much potential for remediation of heavy metal mercury than potato peels. Present study not only demonstrated the adverse effects of mercury and its adsorption by organic domestic waste but it also help to solve the disposal issue of various domestic wastes.

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