摘要：In the present study, free floating plant Eichhornia crassipes was used for the phytoremediation ofcalcium from inland saline water by using water having salinity of 2.5, 5 and 7.5 ppt for one weekeach. Water samples were collected on 0th, 4th and 6th day and plant sample was at end of theexperiment for calcium estimation and for other water quality parameters i.e., total hardness (TH), totalalkalinity (TA), dissolved oxygen (DO), carbon dioxide (CO2), potassium (K) and pH on 0th and 6th dayof the experiment. There was a significant difference in the calcium uptake (P<0.05) by the plantscompared to the 0th day samples. The higher percentage removal of calcium was noted at 2.5 pptsalinity (47.7%) followed by 5 and 7.5 ppt salinity (36.04 and 23.13%) respectively. There wassignificant improvement in the water quality characteristics. In first cycle at 2.5 ppt salinity, the initialconcentration of TH, TA, K and CO2 was 833.33, 166.66, 2.7 and 2.6 mg.L-¹ which decreased to813.33, 144.66, 1.7 and 0 mg.L-¹ respectively, at the end of experiment. Similarly, there was a decreasein the concentration of pH noted from 8.5 to 8.2. An increase was obtained in the concentration of DOi.e., from 6.3 to 7.1 mg.L-¹. The trend of decreasing was observed for other cycles also. The usedintegrated system (sand filter + charcoal filter + coconut coir bed filter incorporated with E. crassipes)was efficient for calcium removal and higher percentage removal was obtained at 2.5 ppt salinityfollowed by 5 and 7.7 ppt. At 2.5 ppt, higher percentage removal was obtained in second cycle i.e.47.7% compared to first and third cycle i.e. 45 and 46.22% respectively. Similar trend of percentageremoval was obtained at 5 and 7.5 ppt i.e., 36.04 and 23.13% respectively than other two cycles. Theoverall results suggest that finding of this study will serve as a baseline for treatment of inland salinewater to make it useful for various agricultural and aquaculture applications.
