摘要：Toxic metal contamination of soil, aqueous waste streams and groundwater causesmajor environmental and human health problems. The most commonly used methodsfor dealing with heavy metal pollution are still extremely costly. Use of aquatic plants toextract, sequester and/or detoxify pollutants is a new and powerful technique forenvironmental cleanup. Plants are ideal agents for soil and water remediation becauseof their unique genetic, biochemical and physiological properties. The aim of this workis to evaluate the potential of free floating duck weed Lemna minor to remove heavymetals from wastewater and their biochemical effect on it. One-month laboratoryexperiments were conducted to mark the percentage removal of different heavy metalsat different concentrations and the effect of heavy metals on nitrate reductase activity,total chlorophyll and protein contents of the plant. Approximately 93% of total heavymetal induced-toxicity appears resulting in the reduced activities of nitrate reductase,total chlorophyll and protein content of the plant. The results recommended the use ofLemna minor to ameliorate the wastewaters contaminated with heavy metals.
