Author(s)

Kokyo Oh¹, Tiehua Cao^2*, Hongyan Cheng³, Xuanhe Liang², Xuefeng Hu⁴, Lijun Yan⁴, Shinichi Yonemochi¹, Sachiko Takahi⁵

¹Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Kazo, Japan.
²Center of Resource and Environmental Science, Jilin Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Changchun, China.
³College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, Shanxi, China.
⁴School of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai University, Shanghai, China.
⁵Faculty of Education and Human Studies, Akita University, Akita, Japan.

Phytoremediation is an eco-friendly and low-cost biotechnology using plants to extract, contain, degrade, or immobilize pollutants from the contaminated environment. Selection of the ideal plant species and suitable enhancing measures to obtain high remediation efficiency and large valuable biomass are essential requirement for a successful phytoremdaition. Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) is one of the most attractive bioenergy crops for producing biofuels with high biomass production. In this study, the phytoremediation potential of sorghum to heavy metals and the promotion effects by a lead-tolerant fungus (LTF) were investigated using a multiple heavy metal contaminated soil with Pb, Ni, and Cu. The results showed that the sorghum survived the heavy contamination, and LTF inoculation promoted the plant growth and increased the phytoextraction yields of Pb, Ni, and Cu. The phytoextraction potential (μg/plant) of the whole sorghum for Sorghum were 410 (Pb), 74 (Ni), and 73 (Cu), and for Sorghum with LTF inoculation were 590 (Pb), 120 (Ni), and 93 (Cu), respectively. The results suggested that sorghum would be one of the ideal candidates for phytoremediation of contaminated soil because of its high phytoremediation potential, large biomass production, and utilization in biofuel production.

Sorghum, Phytoremediation, Contaminated Soil, Heavy Metals, Biofuel Plants

Oh, K. , Cao, T. , Cheng, H. , Liang, X. , Hu, X. , Yan, L. , Yonemochi, S. and Takahi, S. (2015) Phytoremediation Potential of Sorghum as a Biofuel Crop and the Enhancement Effects with Microbe Inoculation in Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 3, 9-14. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2015.36002.