The EDTA Amendment in Phytoextraction of 134Cs From Soil by Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea)

Soil contamination with radiocaesium is a significant problem at any countries when a nuclear accident occurred. Recently, phytoextraction technique is developed to remediate the contaminated environment. However, the application is limited by the availability of the contaminant for root uptake. Therefore, a green house trial experiment of soil amendment with ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) has been conducted to examine 134Cs availability for root uptake. Two groups of Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) were cultivated in 134Cs contaminated soil. The soil in the first group was treated with EDTA amendment, while the other was not. Plant growth was observed gravimetrically and the 134Cs concentration in soil as well as plants were determined using gamma spectrometry. The plant uptake capacity was determined as transfer factor (Fv), and the Fv values of 0.22 ± 0.0786 and 0.12 ± 0.039 were obtained for the soil treated with and without EDTA amendment, respectively. The phytoextraction efficiency of the plant cultivated in 134Cs contaminated soil both with and without EDTA amendment was low. The EDTA amendment to the soil seems to enhance the 134Cs availability for root uptake of Indian mustard and can still be considered to assist the field phytoremediation of contaminated soil.