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What is vetiver phytoremediation?

     Vetiver grass, or scientifically known as Vetiveria zizanioides, under the Graminae family of the lemongrass, maize, sorghum, and sugarcane (Darajeh et al, 2014), and originally came from India but have been found distributed worldwide throughout the equatorial and many countries from the Mediterranean regions alongside all the world’s continents with the exception of Antarctica (Danh et al., 2009). It has been recorded that the use of vetiver grass in land conservation has started since the 1980s wherein due to its cheap, effective, and easy access to water and soil conservation alongside its outstanding physiological and morphological characteristics has been used for wastewater treatment (Danh et al., 2009; Truong, 2008). 

Furthermore, over the last 20 years, it has been found, through extensive research and development done in Australia, China and Thailand, that vetiver grass is non-invasive yet with the abilities to absorb water and nutrient efficiently as well as thriving under extreme conditions whether it be from the soil, climate, as well as high toxic concentrations (Ng et al., 2016; 2017; 2020). Besides, the use of vetiver grass has been proven to be a promising technology to be used as treatment for various purposes such as climate mitigation on land, prevention and treatment of contaminated land, soil erosion control, landscaping and handicrafts (Gnansounou et al., 2017; Raman & Gnansounou, 2018).

Figure 3: Functions of the grass and roots of vetiver (TVNWI, n.d.)

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The unique characteristics and significant applications of Vetiver grass:

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The remarkable domesticated plant of Vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) is central to a wide range of applications and has scientifically proven to have many side advantages besides being able to remediate contaminated land. The Vetiver grass (seedlings) is easily found in many countries and holistically is a beneficial type of plant species which provides significant economic, environmental and social values. Some of the advantages of applying Vetiver grass may include as follows (TVNWI, n.d.; Truong et al., 2008; Darajeh et al., 2014; Gnansounou et al., 2017; Raman & Gnansounou, 2018):

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  1. Prevention and treatment of contaminated water and land: Able to tolerate high levels of nitrates, phosphates, heavy metals, agricultural chemicals and other sources of contaminants. Vetiver grass can be used for treating wastewater, rehabilitating mine tailings, stabilizing landfills and general rubbish dumps where it takes up toxic materials.​

  2. Soil erosion control: The narrow hedgerows of Vetiver grass will spread out rainfall runoff across the slope acting as a filter to trap erosion sediment, create natural terraces and reduce the velocity of rainfall runoff. 

  3. Agriculture improvement: Agricultural uses for soil and water conservation, soil moisture improvement, groundwater recharge, recycling soil nutrients, pest control, mulch, forage, clean-up of agricultural contaminated wastewater and protection of farm infrastructure.

  4. Landscaping: Vetiver can be applied for urban landscaping including beautification, slope stabilization, traffic dividers, demarcation of walkways, prevention of urban erosion, etc.

  5. ​Community quality of life and poverty reduction: In most developing countries, Vetiver grass can be applied at minimum cost to poor rural communities to enhance quality of life through the protection of water supplies, improving soils and increasing farm benefits, cleaning up wastewater and reduction of diseases, protection of rural infrastructure, and providing by-products for handicrafts.

  6. ​Handicrafts: Vetiver grass serves as a source of excellent material for handicrafts (shoes, hats, belts, etc.) particularly if the leaves are properly processed first.

References:

Darajeh, N., Idris, A., Truong, P., Aziz, A. A., Bakar, R. A., & Man, H. C. (2014). Phytoremediation Potential of Vetiver System Technology for improving the Quality of Palm Oil Mill Effluent. Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, 4, 1-10. 

 

Gnansounou, E., Alves, C. M., & Raman, J. K. (2017). Multiple applications of vetiver grass–a review. International Journal of Education and Learning Systems, 2.

 

Ng, C. C., Boyce, A. N., Abas, M. R., Mahmood, N. Z. & Han, F. X. (2020). Evaluation of Vetiver Grass Uptake Efficiency in Single and Mixed Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil. Environmental Processes, 7, 202-226. 

 

Ng, C. C., Boyce, A. N., Rahman, M. M., & Abas, M. R. (2017). Tolerance Threshold and Phyto-assessment of Cadmium and Lead in Vetiver Grass, Vetiveria zizanioides (Linn.) Nash. Chiang Mai Journal of Science, 44(4), 1367-1378. 

 

Ng, C. C., Boyce, A. N., Rahman, M. M., & Abas, M. R. (2016). Effects of different soil amendments on mixed heavy metals contamination in vetiver grass. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 97(5), 695-701.

 

Raman, J. K., & Gnansounou, E. (2018). A review on bioremediation potential of vetiver grass. Waste Bioremediation, 127-140.

 

The Vetiver Network West Indies (TVNWI). The Vetiver Network West Indies. (2019, March 2). Retrieved December 27, 2022, from https://tvnwi.org/about-the-vetiver-network-west-indies-tvnwi/ 

 

Truong, P., Van, T. T., & Pinners, E. (2008). Vetiver system applications technical reference manual. The Vetiver Network International, 89.

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