The treatment of heavy metals in water is of high importance worldwide, and different treatment types have been developed. The use of plant material is becoming more and more important, and oilseed crops biomass have been investigated in terms of phytoremediation and biosorption processes. This article is a review of the literature reporting the applications in 10 different plants and evaluating the removal efficiencies for 12 metals, including the findings of 81 publications. Moringa olifera and Helianthus annuus are the most studied plants, whereas Cu (21.9%), Cd (18.5%), and Pb (19.9%) are the most studied metals. As a result, it was found that more than 90% of Pb, Cu, Cd, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cr, Sr and Mn showed removals in their experiments. At the same time, the variables most related to the efficiency of metal removal are pH, temperature, and contact time. This article includes a review of the biosorption isotherms used in the different studies.
Water stress is a critical environmental adversity that significantly impacts the growth, development, and yield of flax plants. In this study, flax seeds were cultivated under different water irrigation requirements (WIR) (100%, 75%, and 50%) to investigate the effects of exogenously supplied nitric oxide (NO) donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as foliar treatments at concentrations of 0.0 mmol/L, 0.5 mmol/L, 1.0 mmol/L, and 2.0 mmol/L. Drought stress led to a significant decrease in plant growth, photosynthetic pigments, yield components such as oil and total carbohydrate percentage. It also resulted in an increase in leaf H2O2 production, lipid peroxidation levels and activities of enzymatic antioxidants including polyphenol oxidase, superoxide dismutase, and nitrate reductase enzymes. However, foliar application of SNP improved photosynthetic pigments and antioxidant defense system which mitigated the negative impact of water stress on growth and yield productivity by reducing oxidative damage caused by reactive oxygen species accumulation. The use of SNP also decreased H2O2 accumulation levels, lipid peroxidation levels, and improved membrane stability. SNP treatment at concentration of 2 mmol/L showed superior results compared to other concentrations with extremely significant increases observed in yield characteristics such as oil content, total carbohydrate percentages, and unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids ratio.