Growth, remediation, and yield assessment of Jatropha curcas, Millettia pinnata, and Helianthus annus on fly ash amended soil: a comparative study

The piling up of fly ash (FA) from thermal power plants ends up degrading land and water sources and the problem has even fester with time. An energy plantation on fly ash amended soil appears to be the most attractive integrated approach towards better waste utilization and sustainable remediation. Recently the research is focused to figure out the best remediation plant alternative among the energy crops. In the present study a comparative assessment of growth, remediation and yield of energy plant viz. Jatropha curcas , Millettia pinnata , and Helianthus annus were made with the fly ash amended soil with 0, 10, and 15% of FA treatments. It includes morphological growth measurements, estimation of remediation efficiency (RE), bio-concentration factor (BCF), and energy yields. The research outcome confers J. Curcas to possess better response altogether in comparison to M. pinnata and H. annus . The plant obtained greater absolute growth rate (AGR), leaf area (LA) as morphological assessment parameters, and greater yield in terms of biomass and energy. Although, H. Annus absorbed maximum metal content but was insusceptible to survive the experimental duration with lesser RE. J. Curcas obtained maximum RE for 10% FA treatment and outcomes to be the potential alternative among the three energy plants. The remediation efficiency of J. curcas for Al, Fe, Mn, and Zn was 187.79%, 150.36%, 118.67%, and 137.43% greater than the control. Based on Principal Component Analysis (PCA) J. curcas at F10 treatment has better association of growth, remediation, and yield parameter values among other plant alternatives.