Copper (Cu), with many documented cases of Cu toxicity in agriculture lands, is becoming an increasingly common issue in and elsewhere in China. However, fibrous crop such as jute is being used as phytoremediation candidate in Cu-contaminated soils due to its huge biomass. A pot experiment was conducted using four different varieties (HT, C-3, GC, and SH) of jute grown in highly Cu-contaminated soil (2221 mg kg-1), collected from Hubei Province, China. Results from this study showed that C-3 and HT were more resistant to Cu stress, while GC and SH had a serious effect due to high concentration of Cu and a significant decrease in growth and biomass. Furthermore, Cu in roots, leaves, stem core, and bast were higher in C-3 and HT compared with GC and SH. Likewise, at post-harvesting stage, maximum Cu concentration from Cu-contaminated soil was extracted by C-3 and HT while small amount was accumulated by GC and SH. The high content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in the leaves of GC and SH indicated that Cu induced oxidative damage while the antioxidative enzyme activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POD) were increased to scavenge reactive oxygen species (ROS) formed during oxidative stress in the plants. Conclusively, it can be identified that when grown in Cu-contaminated soil, C-3 and HT have greater ability to grow in polluted soils and possible phytoremediation materials to revoke a large amount of Cu.
Keywords: Antioxidants; Copper-contaminated soil; Fibrous crop; Growth; Phytoextraction.