Remediation and management of organochlorine
pesticide (OCPs) contaminated soil is becoming a global priority as they are listed in the Stockholm list of
persistent organic pollutants (POPs) for global elimination.
Lindane is a OCPs candidate recently included in the Stockholm list. However, India has an exemption to produce
lindane for
malaria control. Because of its widespread use during the last few decades,
lindane contaminated
soils are found in almost all parts of India. Since phytoremediation is widely acknowledged as an innovative strategy for the clean-up of contaminated
soils; the present study was aimed to evaluate the phytoextraction and dissipation of
lindane by a leafy vegetable Spinacia oleracea L (Spinach). The test plant was grown in different concentrations of
lindane (5, 10, 15 and 20 mg kg(-1)) and harvested
at 10, 30 and 45 days. At 45 days, the concentrations of
lindane in root and leaf of Spinach growing in four different concentrations were reached up to 3.5, 5.4, 7.6 and 12.3 mg kg(-1) and 1.8, 2.2, 3 and 4.9 mg kg(-1), respectively. There was a significant difference (p<0.01) in the dissipation of
lindane in vegetated and non-vegetated soil. Moreover, the residual
lindane in four experiments was reduced to 81, 76, 69 and 61 percent, respectively. The experimental results indicate that Spinach can be used for the phytoremediation of
lindane. However, more studies are required to prevent the toxicity of harvested parts.