Vetiver grass and tree spinach lock radioactive cesium in roots
Nurliati G, Dhiaulhaq NH, Susanto RI, Syahidha T, Karen V
Phytoremediation
If you've ever grown vetiver grass as a border planting or chaya as an edible hedge, you're looking at two of the most promising plants scientists have found for pulling dangerous radioactive contamination out of soil without spreading it into leaves people might touch or eat.
In 2020, a radiation accident in Indonesia left soil dangerously contaminated with radioactive cesium. Scientists planted six common tropical plants, including vetiver grass, amaranth, sorghum, and a leafy vegetable called chaya, directly in the contaminated dirt to see which ones could soak it up or at least trap it safely. Vetiver and chaya turned out to be champions at keeping the radioactivity locked in their roots, while amaranth was unusual in pulling it further up into its shoots, making it a candidate for actually hauling contamination away.
Key Findings
Vetiver grew fastest at 2.1 cm per day and, along with chaya and amaranth, kept stable biomass even in heavily contaminated soil (up to 166.7 Bq/g of cesium-137)
Most species kept cesium concentrated in roots rather than shoots (translocation factor below 1), marking them as good phytostabilizers; amaranth broke this pattern with higher shoot uptake at high contamination levels
Sorghum, amaranth, chaya, and water spinach all showed efficient uptake from soil (bioaccumulation factor above 1), with chaya showing statistically significant cesium buildup in its roots
chevron_right Technical Summary
After a radioactive cesium contamination incident in Indonesia, researchers tested six tropical plants to see which could help clean up the soil. Vetiver grass and chaya (tree spinach) proved best at locking radioactive cesium safely in their roots, while amaranth pulled it up into leaves and stems for potential removal.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Phytoremediation performance of various tropical plant species for environmental remediation of high 137Cs contaminated soils: A case study of Batan Indah soil.
The Batan Indah incident in Serpong, South Tangerang, Indonesia, led to high 137Cs contamination of soils, with activity levels reaching 524 kBq kg-1 and radiation exposure of approximately 200 μSv...
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Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae.