3.3. Bioremediation of metals in the contaminated soil
The fractions of metals remediated (%) by varying ratios of compost and soil mixtures are shown in Fig. 2. A similar trend of metal removal was observed in the two treatments i.e., bioremediation with ‘compost-only’ and ‘compost + plant’. The remediation ability of the treatment with compost and plant effectively removed greater percentage of metals than the ‘compost-only’ treatment. In ‘compost + plant’ treatment, higher fractions of Mn (31%), Fe (49%), Cu (51%) and Zn (31%) were removed than in ‘compost-only’ treatment. An exception is that, Cr showed a higher removal rate (64%) in ‘compost-only’ treated soil than in ‘compost + plant’ treatment.