Phytoremediation of soil co-contaminated with zinc and crude oil using (L.) in association with MU02.

Soil adulteration by organic and inorganic contaminants chiefly in industrial and agricultural area is one of the major problems faced by the world today. Phytoremediation using aromatic plant such as is a sound, economically reasonable and an eco-friendly approach. Besides, microbial assisted phytoremediation can bring about plant-promoted microbial degradation, plant uptake and phytodegradation of soil contaminants. In this study, the ability of in association with MU02 to remediate zinc and crude oil contaminated soil (2,000 mg/kg, 1% w w crude oil) was investigated in a 60-day pot experiment. Four different treatments and a control (clean soil + plant) were employed for the study: co-contaminated soil only; co-contaminated soil with ; co-contaminated with inoculum; co-contaminated soil with and . Comparatively, the highest TPH deduction efficiency (75.87%) was shown by the treatment comprising of and while highest metal uptake was shown by the treatment with plant only. Better TPH removal associated with higher number of bacteria in the vegetated and inoculated pots could be attributed to the rhizopheric effect of the plants. Altogether, the association of with can be a potential candidate for the remediation of co-contaminated soil.