Tolerance of Ornamental Succulent Plant Crown of Thorns (Euphorbia milli) to Chromium and its Remediation

Abstract

The potential of an ornamental shrub Crown of thorns (Euphorbia milli) was evaluated for remediation of soil contaminated with Cr. The plant is one of the rare succulent ornamental shrubs with a slow to moderate growth rate and is capable of blooming almost year-round. The plant could tolerate well up to 75 mg of applied Cr and beyond that there was mortality of plants. Though the plant could not be classified as a hyperaccumulator, the plant was still very efficient in translocating Cr from roots to shoots as evident from the data on uptake and translocation efficiency values. The translocation efficiency of over 80% in our study demonstrates that a large proportion of Cr has been translocated to the harvestable biomass of the plant and therefore, this plant could be effectively recommended for the remediation of soils contaminated with low to medium level of contamination i.e., up to 50 mg/kg soil.