Date of Graduation

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Agriculture

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences

Advisor/Mentor

Brye, Kristofor

Committee Member

Wood, Lisa

Second Committee Member

Miller, David

Abstract

Environmental degradation is becoming increasingly prevalent as global industrialization runs rampant. Anthropogenic activity, such as mining, deposits inorganic pollutants into the environment, leading to potential soil and water contamination. Traditional, engineering-based remediation and containment procedures alter soil structure and aggregate stability and affect the biological function of the area impacted by mining activities. Phytoremediation is a more energy-efficient, and therefore cost-effective, method of environmental restoration. Phytoremediation, on its own, works in soils that are less contaminated so that the selected plant can actually grow. Soil amendments, such as biochar, can be added to improve remediation potential in more contaminated soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of soil-contamination level (i.e., low, medium, and high), industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivar (i.e., 'Carmagnola'and 'Jinma'), Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)-derived biochar rate (i.e., 0, 2, 5, and 10% by volume), and their interactions on root tissue Cd, Pb, and Zn concentrations and uptakes, whole-plant Cd, Pb, and Zn uptakes, and translocation factors after 90 days of hemp growth in contaminated soil from the Tar Creek Superfund Site near Picher, Oklahoma. Hemp removal of Cd, Pb, and Zn differed among soil-contamination levels (P < 0.01), but was unaffected (P> 0.05) by hemp cultivar or biochar rate, except for total Zn uptake. Total Cd uptake was greatest from the high- (0.0058 mg cm-2), which did not differ from the medium-, and was significantly greater than from the low-contaminated soil (0.0004 mg cm-2). Total Pb uptake was greatest from the high- (0.09 mg cm-2) than the other two soils, while the medium- (0.0084 mg cm-2) was also greater than from the low-contaminated soil (0.0031 mg cm-2). Total Zn uptake was affected (P = 0.02) by biochar rate in the medium- and high-contaminated soils, where total plant Zn uptake in the high- was numerically largest with 10% biochar (0.28 mg cm-2) and, in the medium- was numerically largest with 2% biochar (0.07 mg cm-2), but was unaffected (P > 0.05) by biochar rate in the low-contaminated soil. The translocation factor for Zn uptake in the low and medium soils was > 1, indicating industrial hemp as a potential Zn hyperaccumulator up to a threshold soil-contamination level. Results demonstrate that biochar amendment has the potential to enhance hemp’s ability to remediate heavy-metal-contaminated soils.

Keywords

bioremediation; phytoremediation; soil; biochar; hemp

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