The estimation of the possibility of application of chickpea for purification of the environment from heavy metals

Zinc and lead are priority toxic metals entering the environment as a result of anthropogenic impact, including the enterprises of agriculture. The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of zinc and lead ions on seed germination, plant morphometric indicators and the state of the chickpea leaf pigment complex, and the possibility of using chickpea’s accumulation of metals in biomass for phytoremediation technology. The experiment in hydroponics in which studied impact of zinc and lead on the viability of seeds, morphometric parameters and the maintenance of photosynthetic pigments of plants of chick-pea was presented. It was found that the minimum content of chlorophylls of a and b and carotenoids were characterized by the leaves for the variant with the introduction of zinc into the solution at a dose of 10 MPC, the highest concentration of the studied pigments was observed in the control leaves. Morphometric parameters of chickpea plants (shoot length and root length) were 70 % higher in the variant with the addition of lead ions to the solution compared to the variant with the addition of zinc. To justify the applicability of chickpeas in phytoremediation technology, the bioconcentration factor was calculated. The bioconcentration factor for roots and shoots of chickpea plants in the variant with the introduction of lead into the solution at a dose of 10 MPC is equal to 1223 and 1121, respectively, these values are higher compared to the control and with the variant with the addition of zinc to the solution by an average of 80 %. Consequently, the ability of chickpeas to accumulate the studied metals makes it the plant applicable in the phytofiltration of waters contaminated with lead ions.