The Use of Senecio cineraria Plants Sprayed with Citric Acid for Cadmium Pollution Phytoremediation

This study was carried out at Antoniades Research Branch, Horticulture Research Institute, A.R.C., Alexandria, Egypt during 2015 and 2016 seasons. The study aim was to investigate the ability of using Senecio cineraria plants sprayed with citric acid as cadmium phytoremediation. The effect of four levels of cadmium (0, 100, 200 and 300 mg.L^-1) in irrigation water and different concentrations of citric acid foliar application (0, 250 and 500 mg.L^-1) and their combinations on the vegetative growth and chemical composition of Senecio cineraria plants was studied. The results showed that for vegetative growth parameters there was no significant difference in the interaction between cadmium concentrations and foliar spray by citric acid. While a significant reduction was observed in all parameters after irrigation with cadmium contaminated water and a significant increase in vegetative growth parameters was observed after 500 mg.L^-1 citric acid application. For chlorophyll and carbohydrate content the highest significant value was obtained from plants irrigated with tap water and sprayed without citric acid while the highest significant amount of cadmium content in leaves and roots was obtained from the treatment 300 mg.L^-1 cadmium with no application of citric acid. Also, 300 mg.L^-1 cadmium combined with 500 mg.L^-1 citric acid caused higher cadmium content in soil after plantation.