This grass pulls cadmium from poisoned soil over years
Nguyen TTT, Dinh VH, Nguyen HT, Quach DT, Le HT
Phytoremediation
If you've ever wondered whether planting the right grass can actually clean up contaminated ground over time rather than just looking green on top, this four-and-a-half-year field trial shows it can work, but only for certain metals and only if you keep cutting and replanting it.
Scientists planted vetiver grass, a tough tropical grass often used for erosion control, on contaminated land at an old airbase in Vietnam and checked back on it for over four years. The grass turned out to be really good at absorbing cadmium from the soil into its tissue, and it got even better at this over time, especially after a fire burned off the leaves but left the roots intact and the plant bounced back stronger. But it barely touched other toxic metals like chromium and nickel, which stayed stuck deep in the soil instead of moving into the plant.
Key Findings
Cadmium was the only metal with bioaccumulation factors consistently above 1.0, and this factor increased 2.3-fold over the 40-month assessment window
Cadmium stayed in easily-absorbed soil forms (over 68% in labile fractions), while chromium and nickel remained locked in stable, non-bioavailable mineral forms
After an accidental fire at month 52 burned the canopy but spared the roots, vetiver showed enhanced metal uptake and transport by month 55, suggesting post-fire regrowth boosted phytoremediation
chevron_right Technical Summary
Vetiver grass planted at a heavily contaminated former airbase in Vietnam has spent over four years pulling cadmium out of the soil, with the plant's uptake efficiency more than doubling over the study period, though other metals like chromium and nickel stayed locked in place.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Depth-dependent trace metal speciation, bioavailability and soil-plant transfer across 55 months of vetiver phytoremediation at Bien Hoa Airbase, Vietnam.
Long-term field evidence on how trace metal speciation and bioavailability evolve during phytoremediation of legacy-contaminated soils remains scarce, limiting exposure-relevant appraisal of residu...
open_in_new Read full abstractAbstract copyright held by the original publisher.
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Chrysopogon zizanioides, commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae.