Effect of Organic Nano-Materials on Heavy Metals Concentration of Wheat Plants Inoculated With Piriformospora indica Fungus and Irrigated With Wastewater of Plating Industry

Abstract

Removal of heavy metals from industrial effluents is one of the most important in environmental research. This research was done to investigate the adsorption effect of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and nano Zn-oxide on decreasing chromium (Cr) and cadmium (Cd) concentration in wheat inoculated with Piriformospora indica (P.indica) that irrigated with wastewater of plating industry. Treatments were consist of applying MWCNs (0 and 0.5 % (W/W)) and nano Zn-oxide (0 and 1.5 % (W/W)) in the soil irrigated with the wastewater of plating industry under wheat inoculated with P.indica. This research was done as a factorial experiment in the layout of completely randomized block design in three replication After 90 days, plants were harvested and plant Cd and Cr were measured using atomic absorption spectroscopy. Using MWCNs had significant effect on increasing cation exchangeable capacity of soil. Applying 0.5 % (W/W) MWCNs in the soil irrigated with waste water significantly decreased the soil Cd concentration by 11.7%, while the plant biomass was increased by 13.4%. In addition, applying 1.5 % (W/W) nano Zn-oxide significantly decreased the negative effect of heavy metal toxicity that can be related to the role of nano Zn-oxide on increasing soil sorption properties. However, the interaction effect of Zn and Cd cannot be ignored. The results of this study showed that applying MWCNs and nano Zn-oxide has a significant effect on decreasing phytoremediation efficiency in soil irrigated with wastewater of plating industries. However, the type and the amount of heavy metals in wastewater cannot be ignored.