A plant species (Trifolium repens) with strong enrichment ability for mercury

This paper studied the absorption condition of mercury by Trifolium repens in medium with 10 mu g L-1 HgCl2. We compared the accumulation condition of roots, stems and leaves of the plant species in medium with 10 mu g L-1 HgCl2. The amount of mercury uptake by T. repens was determined by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. The results demonstrate that the T. repens is extremely efficient in extracting mercury from 100% Hoagland solution with 10 mu g L-1 HgCl2 and translocating it into its above-solution biomass. This plant - which, to the best of our knowledge, has the strongest enrichment ability according to previous reports - has a significant advantage for the remediation of mercury-contaminated soils. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.