In situ phytoremediation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-contaminated agricultural greenhouse soil using celery.

Although celery has been established as an effective plant in the remediation of organic pollutant-contaminated soil, few studies have investigated the associated biological processes in rhizosphere and the effect of celery on agricultural field remediation in situ. In this study, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated agricultural greenhouse was used as the experimental site, and three celery species (Apium graveolens L., Oenanthe javanica (Blume) DC., Libanotis seseloides (Fisch. & C.A. Mey. ex Turcz.) Turcz.) were applied for in situ remediation. After 90 days, the PAH dissipation rate of the L. seseloides treatment was highest (50.21%), and most of the PAHs were limited to its roots (translocation factor 0.516). This suggested that L. seseloides is a potential species for phytoremediation coupled with agro-production. The culturable microbial population and invertase activity results strongly supported that O. javanica is suitable for the establishment of exogenous bacteria-celery co-remediation techniques. Pearson's correlation analysis showed that the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity was highly significantly positively correlated with the PAH dissipation rate (r = 0.984, P < 0.01), and we suggest that PPO can be used as a microecological index during PAH remediation.