Accumulation of heavy metals in wild plants collected from the industrial sites—potential for phytoremediation

The decontamination of heavy metals contaminated industrial soil is challenging. The use of wild plants is an environment friendly and economical solution. In this study, phytoremediation potential of wild plants collected from the Hayatabad Industrial estate, KPK, Pakistan was evaluated. Total 17 plant species which belongs to 11 family were collected. Plant and soil samples were acid digested and heavy metals including nickel (Ni), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) were analyzed. pH of collected soil ranged between 7.20–8.13, and the dominant soil textures were clay loam, loam and sandy loam. Results showed that among all collected plant species, Erigeron conyzanthus L and Chenopodium murale showed maximum concentration of multi-heavy metals in roots. Collected plant species were not able to accumulate higher concentration of heavy metals in shoots and therefore no plant species was heavy metal hyperaccumulator except Solanum xanthocarpum and Argemone Mexicana accumulated > 1000 mg Pb kg−1 and 300 mg Cr kg−1 in aerial parts, respectively. Solanum xanthocarpum showed maximum metal extraction ratio (%) for all heavy metals. Among all collected plant species, maximum plant species showed translocation factor > 1. Present study showed that collected plant species have ability to transfer heavy metals from roots to shoots and could be used for the phytoremediation of multi-metals contaminated soil.