Chemical fractionation and heavy metal accumulation in the plant of Sesamum indicum (L.) var. T55 grown on soil amended with tannery sludge: Selection of single extractants.

A pot experiment was carried out to study the single and sequential extractions of metals in different tannery sludge amendment and the potential of the plant of Sesamum indicum L. var. T55 (sesame) for the removal of metals from tannery waste contaminated site. The metal extraction efficiency obtained with each extractants was slightly different and follow the order; EDTA>DTPA>NH(4)NO(3)>NaNO(3)>CaCl(2). The correlation analysis between extractable metals in the different amendments of sludge and metal accumulation in the plant (lower and upper parts) showed better correlation for most of the tested metals with EDTA extraction. In this study, a sequential extraction technique was applied on different amendments of tannery sludge. The results showed that Mn, Zn, Cr and Cd were mostly associated with Fe-Mn oxide fraction in most of the amendments, K and Ni was found in residual (RES) fraction, Fe and Cu was bound with organic matter (OM) and RES fractions and Na was associated with carbonate (CAR) fraction. The metal accumulation after 60 d of growth of the plant was found in the order of K>Na>Fe>Zn>Cr>Mn>Cu>Pb>Ni>Cd and its translocation was found less in upper part. The accumulation of toxic metals (Cr, Ni and Cd) in the plants was found to increase with increase in sludge ratio, in contrast, the accumulation of Pb decreased. In view of growth parameters and metal accumulation in the plant, it was observed that lower amendments (25%) of tannery sludge were found suitable for the phytoremediation of most of the studied metals.