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One of the relatively affordable and safe waste treatment is biological treatment by utilising certain plants as biofilters. The water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) is an aquatic plant that is usually considered a weed by the community. These plants can be used to absorb toxic elements in wastewater. The purpose of this study was to analyse the relationship between Pistia stratiotes L. and the decrease in the organic matter content of fishery processing wastewater. The research method involved varying the effectiveness of the relationship between the bacteria and the water lettuce, the cover rate of the water slide plants and measuring water quality. Water quality measurements include: analysis of BOD5, COD, TSS, pH and temperature. Data analysis with regression and correlation tests using SPSS 28 software. In this study, the density of Pistia stratiotes L. used was 0 %, 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 %. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the effectiveness of the Pistia stratiotes L. in reducing levels of BOD5, COD and TSS is highest at a density of 100 % with the effectiveness values of each 23.7 mg/L, 58.7 mg/L and 2.67 mg/L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigated the effectiveness of water lettuce (WL; Pistia stratiotes L.) in improving the quality of wastewater from biogas systems. Two treatments were designed, one without WL and the other with WL. First, WL were raised in containers that had 15 L of wastewater with an initial ammonium concentration of about 15 mg/L at the still-water stage (days 0–7). Then, at the running-water stage (days 10–22), wastewater with a targeted NH4+-N concentration of about 15 mg/L in a 5-L tank was gravitationally delivered continually into terraced Styrofoam containers designed as ponds 1, 2 and 3. Water samples were collected on days 0, 3, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19 and 22, and fresh weights of WL were measured on the same days of sampling the water. The results showed that at the still-water stage, WL contributed to the reduction of chemical oxygen demand (14.74 ± 4.14% and 8.69 ± 0.92%, respectively), total inorganic nitrogen (23.93 ± 2.35% and 12.80 ± 1.30%, respectively), ammonium (25.21 ± 5.44% and 1.12 ± 0.93%), nitrite (59.98 ± 3.22% and 22.37 ± 1.21%, respectively) and phosphate (71.84 ± 0.89% and 61.64 ± 1.65%, respectively) on days 0–3 more than on days 4–7 but did not help decrease nitrate concentrations on days 0–7. WL contributed to reducing organic matter less at the running-water stage than at the still-water stage. WL helped lower ammonium, nitrite and nitrate concentrations at the running-water stage more than at the still-water stage but did so more for ammonium and nitrate compared with nitrite at the running-water stage. No differences in pollutant concentration reductions between the two treatments (without and with WL) were found in ponds 1, 2 and 3. On days 10-22, no clear trend in increasing or decreasing pollutant concentrations emerged, except nitrite concentration, which lessened over time. No significant differences in the relative daily WL fresh biomass increase between the still-water and the running-water days were observed. The findings indicate that WL is an aquatic plant that can be used in treating wastewater from biogas systems, showing a high efficiency in lowering phosphorus concentrations and a potential for removing nitrite

Simple Summary: Ecosystems store large amounts of carbon, contributing to the control of the gases that lead to climate change. At the same time, certain species provide beneficial materials for the production of fodder or organic fertilizers. This research measured the amount of carbon stored by, and the biomass provision potential of, a water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) population in a disturbed and unprotected Peruvian coastal wetland ecosystem. The results indicated that this population stored 3942.57 tCO2 and that a potential 2132.41 tons of biomass could be obtained for fodder. This pioneering research in Peru measured these ecosystem services, demonstrating the potential of this population of floating aquatic plants to provide both services. One of the most fascinating wetlands on Peru's central coast is the Santa Rosa wetland (Chancay, Lima), an ecosystem threatened by anthropogenic activities. Some of these impacts have led to the uncontrolled growth of Pistia stratiotes, an invasive aquatic plant. This study sought to quantify the regulation and provisioning of ecosystem services provided by P. stratiotes using carbon storage and the provision of biomass as indicators. To this end, the biomasses of 50 plots measuring 0.0625 m2 were weighed and georeferenced and the percentages of dry biomass (%DB) and total organic carbon in the biomass (%C) were quantified. The biomass and its coordinates were entered into ArcGIS and a Kriging interpolation technique was applied to determine the total amount of biomass (B). It was found that P. stratiotes stored 3942.57 tCO2 and that 2132.41 tons of biomass could be obtained for fodder. The total carbon stored by this aquatic plant represented 28.46% of the total carbon sequestered in the wetland ecosystem by vascular plants, suggesting that its contribution to the carbon cycle is significant. This is the first study to estimate the biomass of a floating aquatic plant population in a coastal Peruvian wetland and is a pioneering study addressing the in situ carbon estimation of Peruvian floating aquatic plants. The results and methods proposed in this research will serve in the evaluation of the potential of ecosystem services among similar populations of floating aquatic species. In addition, the data presented can be used to establish plans for the management and use of this biomass in the production of soil fertilizers and cattle forage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biochar has proven effective in the remediation of excess nitrogen from soil and water. Excess nitrogen from agricultural fields ends up in aquatic systems and leads to reduced water quality and the proliferation of invasive species. This study aimed to assess the efficiency of chemically surface-modified biochar produced from invasive Pistia stratiotes L. for the adsorption of inorganic nitrogen (NH4+ and NO3−). Biochar structure was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results from adsorption experiments indicate that NH4+ removal was optimal (0.8–1.3 mg N g−1) at near-neutral pH levels (6.0–7.5), while NO3− removal was optimal (0.4–0.8 mg N g−1) under acidic pH conditions (4.8–6.5) using the modified biochar. These findings highlight the significance of solution pH, biochar morphology, and surface chemistry in influencing the adsorption of NH4+ and NO3−. However, further studies are necessary to assess the potential oxidative transformation of NH4+ to NO3− by biochar, which might have contributed to the reduction in NH4+ in the aqueous phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tailing land reclamation aims to improve the environment so that the tailing areas become productive for crop cultivation. The research was carried out in the tailings area of Mile 21.5 Timika from March to September 2022. The research aimed to study the dosage levels of Pistia stratiotes composts as an ameliorant to support the growth and yield of chili cultivated in the fresh tailings area. This study was laid out in a randomized block design with the Pistia stratiotes compost as a treatment, which consisted of PS1 = 1 kg/plant, PS2 = 2 kg/plant, PS3 = 3 kg/plant, and PS4 = 4 kg/plant in 6 replications. Based on the results, there was a significant effect of Pistia stratiotes compost on the growth and yields of chili. PS4 treatment produced the highest growth (plant height and leaf number) and highest yields (fruit number/plant, fruit weight/plant, fruit weight/plot, fruit weight/ha), while PS1 produced the lowest growth and yields. Chili produced 4.19 t/ha by PS4, indicating a high yield potential when tailings turned into a more stable growth media over time. There was a significant correlation between plant height and leaf number with the fruit weight. This shows that the vegetative growth component is closely related to increased chili yields. The high heritability value indicates the genetic factor influenced the growth and yields of chili more than the environmental factors. The metal contents in the chili fruit tissue are below the threshold level. The findings of this study emphasized the appropriate reclamation approaches using Pistia stratiotes compost as an ameliorant, which effectively improves the quality of tailing as growing media to maximize chili yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medicinal plants are extensively used to cure various infectious diseases and play a vital role in improving health of people. Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce) family Araceae found in pods and streams throughout India. It can be used traditionally in ringworm infection, boils and syphilitic eruptions. It is also used in the treatment of tuberculosis, asthma, dysentery, anthelmintic, antiseptic. It may also play a role as antimicrobial, anticancer, hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and many more. It has great potential for absorption of heavy metals and used for water purification. Pistia stratiotes includes a variety of bioactive compounds in the leaves, seeds, stolons, roots with beneficial effects to human health and the possibility of application in the pharmaceutical industry. This review is the documentation of traditional and modern usage of Pistia stratiotes under one heading can help researchers on their new research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABS was the first surfactant used in detergent formulations, but because its molecular structure is branched, it is difficult to decompose biologically, making ABS a toxic compound for the environment. This study aims to remove MBAS surfactant, using a combination of phytoremediation and filtration methods to remove surfactant (MBAS) Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) from detergent wastewater by optimizing operating factors such as pH, contact time, plant type, and filter media. Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) were selected as plant species and silica-activated carbon was used as filter media. Water lettuce and hyacinth were grown in a 10-liter reactor with detergent wastewater samples for 6 and 12 days. Filter media are placed in the reactor in use, and aeration is done. The efficiency for reducing COD was 81.73%, and the efficiency for surfactant was 99.42% for each experiment, which was thought to be because of plant adsorption and filtering processes. The water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) plant had the maximum adsorption capability for all the qualities evaluated, with a surfactant content in the roots of 27543.24 (mg/kg MBAS), compared to the water hyacinth plant, which only absorbed 2597.95 (mg/kg MBAS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite water ecosystems being capable of sustaining biodiversity and enhancing the overall resilience of the urban environment, they are highly susceptible to biological invasions. Invasive aquatic plants (IAPs) threaten the natural environment by reducing the diversity of native aquatic plants and animal communities. Detecting IAPs and mapping their distribution is crucial for the protection of urban water ecosystems. This study is the first of its kind to use high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and deep learning approaches to monitor the expansion of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce). A DJI Matrice 300 RTK was utilized to capture time-series images with a resolution of 0.018 m on the Guanyin Lake, Cangshan District, Fuzhzou, China, during an outbreak and subsequent rapid growth stage of water lettuce. Three deep learning model architectures and three backbones were combined to detect water lettuce. Model performance and the ability to generalize the model were evaluated to determine the optimal model for water lettuce detection from time-series high-resolution UAV imagery. Results show that the DeepLabv3 + model with ResNet-34 achieved superior performance in detecting water lettuce from time-series imagery, yielding an average accuracy of 90.24 % (85.33 %≤F1_score ≤ 96.54 %) for water lettuce detection on five different dates. For the UAV image acquired on September 26th, the U-Net model with ResNet-18 yielded the highest accuracy (F1_score = 92.46 %), but it was not the optimal model for multi-temporal water lettuce detection on subsequent dates. The distribution of water lettuce can have large variations at different times, with an average change rate of 49.50 % every two days and the highest change rate up to 60.33 %. The study demonstrates that the combination of UAV imagery and a deep learning model can achieve excellent accuracy for water lettuce monitoring and provide a method to map IAPs in dynamic urban water systems over time.

Biochar has proven effective in the remediation of excess nitrogen from soil and water. Excess nitrogen from agricultural fields ends up in aquatic systems and leads to reduced water quality and the proliferation of invasive species. This study aimed to assess the efficiency of chemically surface-modified biochar produced from invasive Pistia stratiotes L. for the adsorption of inorganic nitrogen (NH4+ and NO3−). Biochar structure was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The results from adsorption experiments indicate that NH4+ removal was optimal (0.8–1.3 mg N g−1) at near-neutral pH levels (6.0–7.5), while NO3− removal was optimal (0.4–0.8 mg N g−1) under acidic pH conditions (4.8–6.5) using the modified biochar. These findings highlight the significance of solution pH, biochar morphology, and surface chemistry in influencing the adsorption of NH4+ and NO3−. However, further studies are necessary to assess the potential oxidative transformation of NH4+ to NO3− by biochar, which might have contributed to the reduction in NH4+ in the aqueous phase.

One of the most fascinating wetlands on Peru’s central coast is the Santa Rosa wetland (Chancay, Lima), an ecosystem threatened by anthropogenic activities. Some of these impacts have led to the uncontrolled growth of Pistia stratiotes, an invasive aquatic plant. This study sought to quantify the regulation and provisioning of ecosystem services provided by P. stratiotes using carbon storage and the provision of biomass as indicators. To this end, the biomasses of 50 plots measuring 0.0625 m2 were weighed and georeferenced and the percentages of dry biomass (%DB) and total organic carbon in the biomass (%C) were quantified. The biomass and its coordinates were entered into ArcGIS and a Kriging interpolation technique was applied to determine the total amount of biomass (B). It was found that P. stratiotes stored 3942.57 tCO2 and that 2132.41 tons of biomass could be obtained for fodder. The total carbon stored by this aquatic plant represented 28.46% of the total carbon sequestered in the wetland ecosystem by vascular plants, suggesting that its contribution to the carbon cycle is significant. This is the first study to estimate the biomass of a floating aquatic plant population in a coastal Peruvian wetland and is a pioneering study addressing the in situ carbon estimation of Peruvian floating aquatic plants. The results and methods proposed in this research will serve in the evaluation of the potential of ecosystem services among similar populations of floating aquatic species. In addition, the data presented can be used to establish plans for the management and use of this biomass in the production of soil fertilizers and cattle forage.

Phytoremediation has the potential to significantly reduce water contamination caused by excessive harmful chemicals. The degradative properties of fungi are used in fungal phytoremediation to eliminate or neutralise the hazardous pollutants present in water. The goal of the current study was to endophytize water lettuce with the two entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopilae and Trichoderma harazium. The plant is inoculated with the fungus using the root-dipping procedure. There were two main treatments and a control all with five replications. The analysis of plant and wastewater were analyzed initially like frequency of fungus remained in plant weight, root length and for water that was Biological oxygen demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen demand (COD), and heavy metals (Copper, Nickle, Zinc and Cadmium). The data were taken for 3rd 5 th and 7th day of the experiment. The results exhibit that T. harazium exhibited the 82.67 % followed by the M. anisopilae with 65.33 % as compared to control with 1.33 % mean frequency the 10th day of inoculation. Maximum weight 295.98 and 265.13 g and root length were maximum recorded 15.18 and 18.12 cm respectively at the end of the experiment. Performance of T. harazium endophytic plant found to be 90.7 % for BOD, 73.82 % for COD. The removal % of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd exhibited 75.13, 96.58, 87.14, 61.17 % after 7d of treatment. In case of M. anisopilae, 85.2 % for BOD, 69.38 % for COD. The removal % of Cu, Zn, Ni, Cd exhibited 66.48, 89.43, 77.42, 52.4 % after 7d of treatment. The treatments exhibited the remarkable reduction in pollutants and increase in plant weight and root length.

Aquatic weeds have exceptionally high reproduction rates, are rich in cellulose and hemicellulose, and contain a negligible amount of lignin, making them an ideal crop for the next generation of biofuels. Previously reported studies proposed that water hyacinth, water lettuce, common duckweeds, and water spinach can be managed or utilized using different advanced techniques; from them, anaerobic digestion is one of the feasible and cost-effective techniques to manage these biowastes. The present study was carried out to investigate the potential of utilizing four common aquatic weed species (water hyacinth, water lettuce, common duckweeds, and water spinach) as substrates for anaerobic digestion in order to produce biogas for use in biofuels. The high reproduction rates and high cellulose and hemicellulose content, coupled with low lignin content, of these aquatic weeds make them ideal candidates for this purpose. The study evaluated the feasibility of using anaerobic digestion as a management technique for these aquatic weeds, which are often considered invasive and difficult to control. The results from various studies indicate that these aquatic weeds are productive feedstock options for anaerobic digestion, yielding a high biogas output. Among the aquatic weeds studied, water hyacinth, water lettuce, and common duckweeds exhibit higher methane production compared to water spinach. The study provides an overview of the characteristics and management strategies of these aquatic weeds in relation to biogas production, with possible future developments in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase in free radicals in the body causes oxidative stress. Therefore, our body needs exogenous antioxidants. This study aimed to determine the antioxidant activity of crude and defatted polysaccharide extracts from water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) leaf. The polysaccharide was extracted by hot-water extraction and defatted with acetone. The total sugar content was determined by the Phenol-Sulfuric acid method, the antioxidant activity by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method, and the functional group was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The results showed that the total sugar of the crude polysaccharide (96.80±14.60 mg glucose eq./g dry sample) had a higher total sugar than the defatted polysaccharide (44.0±2.16 mg glucose eq./g dry sample). However, the antioxidant activity in defatted polysaccharides (IC50 0.406±0.011 mg/mL) more effectively inhibits free radicals than crude extract (IC50 0.484±0.028 mg/mL). The O-H, C-H, C=O, and C-O functional groups were identified in the polysaccharide extracts. The polysaccharides extract from water lettuce exhibits antioxidant activity. Therefore, the polysaccharide from water lettuce (P. stratiotes) leaf can be used as a source of antioxidant agents and as a food supplement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metal pollution due to industrialization can threaten the surrounding environment and living organisms. Phytoremediation is a green technique that uses hyperaccumulator plants to eliminate or decrease heavy metals in polluted water bodies. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in morphology of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce) and Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth) before and after phytoremediation of zinc (Zn) by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The SEM images showed the formation of small granular aggregates on the surfaces of the leaf and root. EDX results confirmed the uptake of Zn metal, especially in the plant roots. The FTIR spectra showed the Zn metal binding with several characteristic functional groups (O-H, C-H and C=O bonds). Different parameters were also studied to optimize the Zn uptake rate. Water lettuce achieved 80.1% phytoremediation of Zn after 5 days at optimum conditions (10 ppm of Zn, 6 ppm of sodium chloride and natural solution pH). Meanwhile, water hyacinth reached up to 88% when increasing the sodium chloride up to 9 ppm. In conclusion, Zn phytoremediation using both plants can be a potential remediation method for improving the quality of water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was aimed at assessing water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) biomass growth, which was tested at the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Niš under partially controlled conditions during a 70-day-long test, with a mixture of communal wastewater and water from the shaft at the hydraulic engineering demonstration facility as a source of nutrient matter. The biomass measured after the 70-day experiment ranged from 4.31 to 4.71 kg WW/m² (average 4.48 kg WW/m²). The daily absolute growth rate (AGR) was 58.81 g/m² day, the daily increase rate (DIR) was 16.16 %/day, the average daily relative growth rate (RGR) was 0.0359 g/g day, and the biomass doubling time (DT) was 32.94 days. The following models were used to model the dynamics of water lettuce biomass growth: the exponential model (average MSE 0.0485, average coefficient of determination (R²) to 0.9757); the logistic model (mean squared error (MSE) 0.0049, R² 0.9976), and the sigmoidal model (average MSE 0.0003, average R² 0.9999). All models have a high accuracy; however, the exponential models give a continuous increase in biomass over time, practically to infinity, without taking into account that under conditions of increased plant density and reduced availability of resources, biomass growth slows down and, therefore, they are not suitable for application in real conditions. The logistic model (environmental capacity 6.1680 kg/m² after about 150 days, ti 53.8587 days, ta 32.8295 days, tb 74.8879), and sigmoidal model (environmental capacity 5.2903 kg/m² after about 150 days, ti 50.2972 days, ta 34.3072 days, tb 66.2872 days) adequately describe the biomass growth of the growth phase of water lettuce with high precision, which is essential for planning appropriate preventive and active measures to control the spread of water lettuce as an invasive plant and minimize negative impacts on waterbodies in Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Bangladesh already has robust pharmaceutical industries, nearly all companies owned effluent treatment plant (ETP) facilities to improve the quality of wastewater. Water retreatment utilizing affordable, accessible, and environmentally sustainable techniques have not yet been thoroughly investigated. In this study, the potential of water hyacinth and water lettuce was investigated at three different concentrations: 50% of total volume coverages (1000 g macrophytes/2000 ml water), 75% of total volume coverages (1500 g macrophytes/2000 ml water), and 100% of total volume coverages (2000 g macrophytes/2000 ml water) on the post-treated ETP's wastewater for 3 weeks in a mesocosm environment. Heavy metals, such as chromium (Cr) and nickel (Ni) along with physicochemical parameters (pH, EC, TDS, DO, and BOD5) were measured after 7 days intervals. Results indicated that water hyacinth was considerably more efficient than water lettuce at removing many factors, including metals. Water hyacinth was able to remove 79.15% of nickel and 92.97% of chromium while also increasing DO and EC by 36.72% and 14.59%, respectively, at 100% of total volume coverages. On the other hand, 100% of the total volume coverage of water lettuce decreased the pH, TDS, and BOD5 readings by 6.70%, 31.62%, and 87.61%, respectively. With each treatment, the water quality significantly improved over the control. The findings suggest that the pharmaceutical industries may improve the quality of their treated wastewater even more by integrating phytoremediation technology with traditional ETP facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive alien aquatic plants are endangering local ecosystems in Morocco and require early and cost-effective interventions. Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L., Araceae) has progressively invaded the Wadi Al Jawahir (Fez, Morocco) over the last decade even with all the control measures implemented. This work aimed to test in mesocosms during 7 weeks, under controlled temperature, relative humidity, lighting, and photoperiod, the effect of three control methods of P. stratiotes: 0.14% liming, drainage and surface aeration at 370 L·h − 1. Plant biometric and functional parameters and the physicochemical and bacteriological quality of the growing waters were used to evaluate the effect of these control methods on the development of Pistia. The three methods tested limit both sexual reproduction of this plant species by preventing its flowering, and its vegetative propagation through decreasing biomass accumulation. Under favourable conditions (polluted eutrophic waters), P. stratiotes plants reached the flowering stage, and showed a very highly significant growth compared to the seedling stage, with an average height of 19.9 ± 8.97 cm, vs. 7.06±1.21 cm and 6.32±2.41 cm under surface aeration and drainage circumstances in the same order. P. stratiotes also showed biomass reduction with rates of 100%, 71.49%, and 44.5% respectively in application of liming, drainage and surface aeration. These experimental reduction rates suggest possibilities for future pilot-scale application of the proposed control methods as alternatives and/or in combination with existing ones.

Background: Aquatic plants play a crucial role in nature-based wastewater treatment and provide a promising substrate for renewable energy production using anaerobic digestion (AD) technology. This study aimed to examine the contaminant removal from AD effluent by water lettuce (WL) and produce biogas from WL biomass co-digested with pig dung (PD) in a farm-scale biogas digester. Methods: The first experiment used styrofoam boxes containing husbandry AD effluent. WLs were initially arranged in 50%, 25%, 12.5%, and 0% surface coverage. Each treatment was conducted in five replicates under natural conditions. In the second experiment, WL biomass was co-digested with PD into an existing anaerobic digester to examine biogas production on a farm scale. Results: Over 30 days, the treatment efficiency of TSS, BOD5, COD, TKN, and TP in the effluent was 93.75-97.66%, 76.63-82.56%, 76.78-82.89%, 61.75-63.75%, and 89.00-89.57%, respectively. Higher WL coverage increased the pollutant elimination potential. The WL biomass doubled after 12 days for all treatments. In the farm-scale biogas production, the biogas yield varied between 190.6 and 292.9 L kg VS-1 added. The methane content reached over 54%. Conclusions: WL removed AD effluent nutrients effectively through a phytoremediation system and generated significant biomass for renewable energy production in a farm-scale model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accuracy of environmental risk assessment depends upon selecting appropriate matrices to extract the most risk-relevant portion of contaminant(s) from the soil. Here, we applied the chelatants EDTA and tartaric acid to extract a metal-contaminated soil. Pistia stratiotes was applied as an indicator plant to measure accumulation from the metal-laden bulk solutions generated, in a hydroponic experiment lasting 15 days. Speciation modeling was used to elucidate key geo-chemical mechanisms impacting matrix and metal-specific uptake revealed by experimental work. The highest concentrations of soil-borne metals were extracted from soil by EDTA (7.4% for Cd), but their uptake and translocation to the plant were restricted due to the formation of stable metal complexes predominantly with DOC. Tartaric acid solubilized metals to a lesser extent (4.6% for Cd), but a higher proportion was plant available due to its presence mainly in the form of bivalent metal cations. The water extraction showed the lowest metal extraction (e.g., 3.9% for Cd), but the metal species behaved similarly to those extracted by tartaric acid. This study demonstrates that not all extractions are equal and that metal-specific speciation will impact accurate risk assessment in soil (water)-plant systems. In the case of EDTA, a deleterious impact on DOC leaching is an obvious drawback. As such, further work should now determine soil and not only metal-specific impacts of chelatants on the extraction of environmentally relevant portions of metal(loid)s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Obesity is a metabolic disorder disease and excessive fat accumulation. Synthetic antiobesity (antihyperlipidemic) drugs are considered to cause some side effects. Therefore, the investigation of novel antiobesity agents, with less adverse effects, is a major challenge in the future research, such as from plant extracts. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the antihyperlipidemic of purified polyphenol from water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) extract. The research was conducted using crude and purified extracts of water lettuce. The purification process was performed by solid-phase extraction by using a HyperSep Retain PEP cartridge. The qualitative analysis of bioactive compounds (flavonoid, alkaloid, terpenoid, tannin) and quantitative analysis of lipase inhibition were conducted in the laboratory. The results showed that flavonoid, alkaloid, and tannin were increased after the purification process, whereas triterpenoid was reduced. The stretching of a polymeric hydroxyl group (O-H) and H-bonded stretching at 3382.36 cm-1 (crude extract) and 3399.25 cm-1 (purified extract) indicate present of phenol in the extracts. The inhibition of lipase enzyme also increased from 37.50% (crude extract) to 72.50% (purified extract). Therefore, purified polyphenol compound from water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) extract is the potential agent as antihyperlipidemic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant-associated microorganisms play a critical role in plant survival and functional attributes. There are many studies on the taxonomical and functional aspects of microorganisms associated with terrestrial plants. However, the microbiome of aquatic plants is not much explored. This work details the studies on microbiomes and diversity in microbial communities inhabiting the three common free-floating aquatic plants of tropical regions viz. duckweed, water hyacinth and water lettuce, widely implicated for their bioremediation potential. Studies conducted till date reveal the prevalence and dominance of different Bacillus sp. Other genera, including Rhodanobacter, Pseudomonas, Rhizobium, Achromobacter, Serratia, Actinobacteria, Proteobacter, Klebsiella and Acidobacteria, have also been prominently reported. This lesser explored niche offers great bioprospecting opportunities to obtain taxonomically diverse and functionally distinct microorganisms. Bacterial endophytes from these aquatic plants have been primarily studied for their ability to produce indole acetic acid and degrade phenol. Limited studies reveal some fungal endophytes to have promising herbicidal effect. Not much is known on other functional attributes and hence microbial studies on these plants holds much promise for obtaining novel isolates or isolates with novel functions that would impact both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. This study proposes the need for exploring the role of endophytes as biocontrol agents and their potential to provide a pragmatic and robust solution to the aquatic weed menace in freshwater bodies. Bioprospecting of this lesser studied ecological niche hence is a promising field of research that has both environmental and economic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoremediation is an effective method used to control the accumulation of certain contaminants found in industrial or city wastewater. Among the species with high efficacy are Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Lemna minor (common duckweed), and Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce). In this study, the application of these species in the context of two municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Cluj County, Romania, is evaluated. To determine the efficacy of bioaccumulation, we measured the content of nitrogen species (ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrites, and nitrates), phosphorous, iron, and chromium before and after the addition of plant material to effluent and treated wastewater. The results showed that E. crassipes, L. minor, and P. stratiotes presented high phytoremediation yields for these common wastewater pollutants after one week of contact, with yields as high as 99–100% for ammoniacal nitrogen, 95% for phosphorous, 96% for iron, and 94% for chromium. However, the remediation capacity for nitrate and nitrite was less significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater sources are affected by a diverse range of pollutants, which increases the demand for effective remediation. Aquatic phytoremediation is a nature-based solution. It has the potential to provide efficient, adaptable, and multi-targeted treatment of polluted waters. The aim of this research is to evaluate non-mechanized, low-cost onsite treatment of waste water intrusions. It includes an experimental set up with three replicates. Each consists of a modified flow pattern under outdoor conditions. Experimental set up A and B were provided with macrophytes, water lettuce and duckweed, respectively, with plant coverage at 50% and 90%. Experimental set up C was a controlled set up without macrophytes. The highest removal of BOD, COD and Total solids by using water lettuce were observed to be 89%, 77% and 38.5%, respectively. By using duckweed, the highest removal of BOD, COD and Total solids were observed at 88%, 66% and 27.59%, respectively. Removal was also observed in Set up C for BOD, COD and Total solids; its efficiency was 48%, 47% and 25%, respectively. Set up A can be recommended for treating wastewater intrusion, so that wastewater will purify to a to satisfactory to disposal standard level before mixing in river water. The area available in the stream itself can be used as a treatment zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the biogas production potential of water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) by batch anaerobic digestion under in-vitro conditions. Twenty-one litre-plastic jars were used to conduct 4 replications over 75 days. The results showed that solution temperature, pH and Eh were suitable for biogas production. More than 50% of the obtained CH4 was formed within 17-42 days after incubation. The maximum daily CH4 production was 0.052 L/gVS, whilst the daily H2S concentration was low, with a maximum value of 28 ppm within 14 – 21 d after incubation. Moreover, the peak of daily biogas production was seen at day 16 with production of 0.12 L/gVS. The results highlight that water lettuce biomass can be potentially used to produce high quality biogas in anaerobic incubation.

Phosphorous (P) is one of the primary nutrients to cause the eutrophication of water bodies. This process leads to algal blooms and anoxic conditions which have consequences in the form of mortality of aquatic animals, and impaired water quality. Aquatic macrophytes could be the promising candidates that can filter P from water contaminated with high levels of nutrients. In the present microcosm research, two types of floating macrophytes, i.e., salvinia floater (Salvinia natans) and water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) were deployed to compare their P-removal rates and efficiency under different incubation times (72, 168, and 264 h intervals). Plants were exposed to different treatments, i.e., (1) P-fed plants, (2) P-starved plants, (3) control treatments, and (4) synthetic wastewater treatment. Both plant species showed substantial P-removal efficiency from P-eutrophicated solutions and removed P-amounts were significantly correlated (R2 ≅ 1 at p ≤ 0.05) with P-accumulated in plant biomass. Plants in the P-starved state showed significantly higher P-removal rates and removal efficiency compared to plants without P-starvation. When Salvinia natans was exposed to 10 mg L−1 of P for 264 h of incubation, 21 g of fresh biomass was recorded during the P-starved phase, more than P. stratiotes (14 g) under similar conditions. The P. stratiotes removed 86.04% of P from 5 mg L−1 P solution, 53.76% from 10 mg L−1 P solution and 66.84% from SWW in the P-starved phase whereas, removal efficiency without the P-starvation phase was 33.03% from 5 mg L−1 P solution, 39.66% from 10 mg L−1 P solution, and 31.64% from SWW after 264 h interval. Compared to S. natans, P. stratiotes removed 86.0% P from a 5 mg L−1 P solution, whereas S. natans removed 56.6% when exposed to the same P solution (5 mg L−1 P solution). Bioconcentration factor (BCF) values were higher in Salvinia natans 10.5 (0.5 mg L−1 P solutions) and 1.5 (5 mg L−1 P solutions) compared to 9.9 and 1.3 of Pistia stratiotes under P-starved conditions. The present work highlighted that these aquatic plants can be a potential green sustainable solution for purifying water with excessive nutrients (N and P), especially waters of wetlands, lagoons, and ponds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connected individuals (ramets) of clonal plants are frequently fragmented due to disturbance, and such clonal fragmentation may influence their growth. However, it is unclear whether different patterns of clonal fragmentation produce differential effects on plant growth and whether such differences vary with genotypes. We collected one group of connected ramets of the stoloniferous floating invasive macrophyte Pistia stratiotes from each of six provinces (Guangdong, Guangxi, Hubei, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces) of China, and assumed that these ramets belonged to different genotypes. After several generations of vegetative propagation to remove potential parental effects, new ramets (hereafter referred to as parent ramets) from each of these assumed genotypes were subjected to four patterns of clonal fragmentation, i.e. all offspring ramets produced during the experiment remained connected to their parent ramet (control), or the primary (1°), secondary (2°) or tertiary (3°) offspring ramets were disconnected from their parent ramet. We found significant growth differences among the assumed genotypes, confirming that the ramets sampled from these six provinces were from different genotypes. Compared with the control, disconnecting the 1°, 2° or 3° ramets did not significantly affect biomass of the whole clone (i.e. the parent ramet plus all offspring ramets) of P. stratiotes. Disconnecting the 1° ramets significantly increased biomass of the parental ramet of all six genotypes compared with the control. However, disconnecting the 2° or 3° ramets had little effect on biomass of the parent ramet for all genotypes except the Guangxi genotype, for which disconnecting the 2° ramets decreased biomass of the parent ramet. Disconnecting the 1°, 2° or 3° ramets had no impact on biomass or number of the 1° or the 3° ramets for any of the genotypes. However, disconnecting the 1° ramets decreased biomass of the 2° ramets for the Guangdong and Yunnan genotypes, but had no effect for the other four genotypes. We conclude that different patterns of clonal fragmentation can have different impacts on parent and offspring ramets of P. stratiotes and such an impact may vary with genotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the possibility of using Water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) as a cost-effective substrate for the commercial extraction of cellulose biopolymer using a wide variety of physicochemical treatment methods to compare their efficiency in cellulose extraction. The extraction of cellulose from water lettuce, although promising due to their high cellulose content, was less explored as per the available literature. In this study, functional properties like bulk density-packed density, hydrated density, water retention capacity, oil retention capacity, emulsifying activity and setting volume of the extracted cellulose were studied. The cellulose content from water lettuce was found to be 38.94 ± 0.10% by anthrone method. Preliminary confirmation of cellulose biopolymer was done using the study of functional groups using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) analysis. Further characterization studies like Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X- Ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) were conducted to understand the molecular architecture and purity of the cellulose extracted. Fabrication of cellulose sheets was carried out using starch as the plasticizer. Biodegradation studies were conducted in garden soil for four weeks and a high degradation rate of 78.22 ± 0.71% was observed in the fourth week of soil burial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate the potential of the free-floating macrophytes Pistia stratiotes to remediate nutrients and restore the eutrophic drain (Al-Sero Drain), South Nile Delta, Egypt. Plant and water samples were collected monthly for ten months using three randomly distributed quadrats in each of three sites. Monthly significant variation in all investigated water nutrients was recorded. The plant biomass showed bell-shaped distribution, with the lowest shoot and root biomass during May, while their peaks were during September. The plant shoots accumulated higher concentrations of most nutrient elements, except Mg, than the roots. The order of nutrients concentration (%) in P. stratiotes shoot was K > N > Ca > Na > Mg > P, while in the root was K > N > Na > Ca > Mg > P. Most nutrients standing stock (g/m−2) had the same biomass trend with the minimum during May and the maximum during August–October, which is the potential period for mowing the plant to remediate the highest nutrients and restore the eutrophic watercourses. Most investigated nutrients (except Ca) content in water were significantly correlated to their concentration in the different plant organs, which in turn provide a quantitative assessment of the environmental quality that suggests the potential use of this plant as a biomonitor of nutrient elements in eutrophic watercourses.

In rural areas of the Vietnamese Mekong delta, biogas digesters are applied as a potential solution to treat waste from pig rearing. Wastewater from biogas production typically contains a high level of nutrients, which requires appropriate techniques for removal. In order to contribute to making small-scale rural pig rearing in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta more sustainable, this study examines the uptake of inorganic nitrogen by water lettuce under lab scale conditions. Two treatments, including a control (No water lettuce) and with water lettuce (8 plants # 112.6±0.5 g) were conducted in triplicate using plastic tanks (57 x 38 x 30,5 cm³ ). Each replicate contained 50 L of solutions (nominal concentration: 5 mgN/L NH4-N + 5 mgN/L NO3-N). The experiment was set up in a wet lab for 28 d. The environmental parameters of solution and plant weight were monitored every 7 days. The results showed that water lettuce could absorb both ammonium and nitrate, but ammonium uptake was preferential. With approximately 112 g of fresh biomass, over 28 days this biomass was approximately 4 times greater and removed at about 0.26 g nitrogen. The results highlight that water lettuce can be used to remove nutrients from biogas wastewater without aeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water hyacinth and water lettuce have been extensively used for phytoremediation of metals and metalloids. However, the reasonable disposal of phytoremediation plants is a difficult problem. This study aims to reduce metals and metalloids from water hyacinth and water lettuce, and produce hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4) via an atmospheric-pressure microwave plasma reactor based on the circular economy concept. Inertization of metals and metalloids can be obtained by more than 60% for both water hyacinth and water lettuce. H2 and CH4 production of water hyacinth and water lettuce were 56.28%/57.30% and 3.75%/2% of volume fractions, respectively. Furthermore, total VOCs concentrations from the effluent gas were detected only at the values of 0.511% (water hyacinth) and 0.08% (water lettuce) of volume fractions, respectively. Overall, water hyacinth and water lettuce treated by atmospheric-pressure microwave plasma showed the potential of H2 and CH4 production as a by-product for alternative energy and inertization of metals/metalloids for the phytoremediation plants.

The pollution of copper in livestock wastewater has seriously threatened the agricultural environment and restricted the safe recycling use of livestock wastewater. In this paper, a simulation laboratory experiment was conducted for investigation of the absorption characteristics of water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) under the stress of copper, and thereby some physiological parameters such as active oxygen content, antioxidant enzyme, oxidation of membrane lipid, and pigment contents were measured. The investigation showed that the maximal removal rate of Cu by water lettuce could be up to 90.16% in 7-day treatment experiment, and in the solution of Cu-concentration of 4 mg/L the water-lettuce' s leaf enrichment efficiency and plant transfer efficeincy reached peak values: 187.34 and 0.166 5, respectively, and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities were the highest; the highest peroxidase (POD) activity appeared in the solution of Cu-concentration 8 mg/L. In addition, it appeared the content of malondialdehyde (MDA) tended to increase at first, then to decrease with the increase of Cu concentration, the highest content (69.59 nmol/g) appeared in the solution of Cu-concentration 12 mg/L, while the content of chlorophyll reached the peak value of 5.196 mg/g in the solution of Cu-concentration 1 mg/L, and decreased later continuously. To sum up, water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.) is suitable for the phyto-remediation of low-level (≤4 mg/L) copper-contaminated water bodies. It has been showed that Cu accumulated in water lettuce' s roots reducing its transport to leaves, and with the high response level of antioxidant enzymes to the scavenging of reactive oxygen species, the physiological functions of the plant were maintained, thus ensuring the absorption of Cu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the world, a large part of the wastewater is not previously treated, resulting in the contamination of water resources. Thus, the present research aimed to evaluate Eichhornia crassipes and Pistia stratiotes as sorbents in the treatment of Pb, Cu and Zn in wastewater from the community of Cashaucro located in Oyón, Peru at 3600 masl. To evaluate the biosorption of the macrophytes, 6 glass cuvettes were used with concentrations of 750 mg/L of zinc, 25 mg/L of copper and 62.5 mg/L of lead. The treatment was carried out for 15 days and physicochemical parameters such as pH, electrical conductivity, dissolved oxygen and temperature were monitored every week. According to the results obtained, the best removals for copper, lead and zinc were achieved with the macrophyte Eichhornia crassipes, with values of 99.86, 99.89 and 29.45%, respectively. On the other hand, values higher than 90% were achieved in the improvement of physicochemical parameters. Finally, the study showed that floating macrophytes are good adsorbents of heavy metals and could be used as an alternative for improving water quality due to their low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme-A (HMG-CoA) reductase is an enzyme that plays a role in the synthesis of cholesterol. The side effect of synthetic anti-cholesterol drugs has led to the demand for natural HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors such as plant extract. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the inhibitory HMG-CoA reductase activity of polyphenol compounds from water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes) leaf extract. The research was conducted using the crude and purified extracts of water lettuce. The total polyphenols, flavonoids, and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitory activity assay were carried out by in vitro analysis. The values obtained were analyzed quantitatively, followed by the use of an independent sample t-test and presented in graphical form. The results showed that the total polyphenols in each crude and purified extracts were 29.03 mg GAE/g dry sample and 65.63 mg GAE/g dry sample, respectively, while the total flavonoids were 27.58 mg QE/g dry sample and 88.02 mg QE/g dry sample, respectively. The inhibitory activity of the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme showed that the purified extract showed percentage inhibition of 34.74% which was higher than that of the crude extract which was 2.61%. This indicated that the purified extract of water lettuce has higher levels of polyphenols and flavonoids that can inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme more effectively than the crude extract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phytoremediation is an effective method used to control the accumulation of certain contaminants found in industrial or city wastewater. Among the species with high efficacy are Eichhornia crassipes (water hyacinth), Lemna minor (common duckweed), and Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce). In this study, the application of these species in the context of two municipal wastewater treatment facilities in Cluj County, Romania, is evaluated. To determine the efficacy of bioaccumulation, we measured the content of nitrogen species (ammoniacal nitrogen, nitrites, and nitrates), phosphorous, iron, and chromium before and after the addition of plant material to effluent and treated wastewater. The results showed that E. crassipes, L. minor, and P. stratiotes presented high phytoremediation yields for these common wastewater pollutants after one week of contact, with yields as high as 99–100% for ammoniacal nitrogen, 95% for phosphorous, 96% for iron, and 94% for chromium. However, the remediation capacity for nitrate and nitrite was less significant.

Excessive growth of invasive alien aquatic plants threatens local ecosystems and has both ecological and economic impacts. This work highlights morphological and functional aspects of Pistia stratiotes L., first reported in Fez in 2012. The total photosynthetic area of a Pistia plant is highly correlated (R2=0.70) to the product of the length and maximum width of the outer leaf. The total biomass of Pistia was highly related (R2=0.71) to plant size and averaged 67.54±26.35 g dry weight·m-2. Its peak does not necessarily co-occur with flowering and/or high production of stolons. The total nitrogen and phosphorus mineralomasses correspond to 11.46±4.55 kg N·ha-1 and 0.83±0.33 kg P·ha-1. The biomass and mineralomasses of Pistia, estimated under these invasive conditions, ranks it among the least productive Moroccan wetland plants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research aims to study the quality of derived compost using water lettuce (Pistia stratiotes L.), a nuisance aquatic plant causing severe damage to waterways in Thailand and other tropical regions, as a major composting material together with dry leaves and pig manure. Three sets of the compost consisting of water lettuce, dry leaves, and pig manure at the ratio of 7:4:0 (T1), 7:4:1 (T2) and 7:4:3 (T3) by wet weight, respectively were composted for 21 days. All treatments used water lettuce as base material fermented in a composter for seven days and cured in a perforated plastic black bag for fourteen days. Among all treatments, the optimum ratio of raw materials in producing quality compost was determined as T3 (water lettuce, dry leaves and pig manure at a ratio of (7:4:3). Pig manure addition was found to hasten the compost process. The ratio of T3 product with decomposition maturity from 21 days of treatment yielded quality compost that met all Thai Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (≥ 1%N and ≥ 0.5%P). This T3 treatment produced the best quality compost comparing plant nutrients, nitrogen (3.0%) and phosphorus (2.6%) to the other treatment scenarios investigated. Thus, water lettuce, an often-problematic weed found in rivers and canals, can rather be used as a base material for composting to enhance crop growth and for environmental benefits like reducing water pollution, use of chemical fertilizers and greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted to investigate the potential of the free-floating macrophytes Pistia stratiotes to remediate nutrients and restore the eutrophic drain (Al-Sero Drain), South Nile Delta, Egypt. Plant and water samples were collected monthly for ten months using three randomly distributed quadrats in each of three sites. Monthly significant variation in all investigated water nutrients was recorded. The plant biomass showed bell-shaped distribution, with the lowest shoot and root biomass during May, while their peaks were during September. The plant shoots accumulated higher concentrations of most nutrient elements, except Mg, than the roots. The order of nutrients concentration (%) in P. stratiotes shoot was K > N > Ca > Na > Mg > P, while in the root was K > N > Na > Ca > Mg > P. Most nutrients standing stock (g/m−2) had the same biomass trend with the minimum during May and the maximum during August–October, which is the potential period for mowing the plant to remediate the highest nutrients and restore the eutrophic watercourses. Most investigated nutrients (except Ca) content in water were significantly correlated to their concentration in the different plant organs, which in turn provide a quantitative assessment of the environmental quality that suggests the potential use of this plant as a biomonitor of nutrient elements in eutrophic watercourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater sources are affected by a diverse range of pollutants, which increases the demand for effective remediation. Aquatic phytoremediation is a nature-based solution. It has the potential to provide efficient, adaptable, and multi-targeted treatment of polluted waters. The aim of this research is to evaluate non-mechanized, low-cost onsite treatment of waste water intrusions. It includes an experimental set up with three replicates. Each consists of a modified flow pattern under outdoor conditions. Experimental set up A and B were provided with macrophytes, water lettuce and duckweed, respectively, with plant coverage at 50% and 90%. Experimental set up C was a controlled set up without macrophytes. The highest removal of BOD, COD and Total solids by using water lettuce were observed to be 89%, 77% and 38.5%, respectively. By using duckweed, the highest removal of BOD, COD and Total solids were observed at 88%, 66% and 27.59%, respectively. Removal was also observed in Set up C for BOD, COD and Total solids; its efficiency was 48%, 47% and 25%, respectively. Set up A can be recommended for treating wastewater intrusion, so that wastewater will purify to a to satisfactory to disposal standard level before mixing in river water. The area available in the stream itself can be used as a treatment zone.

The objective of this research was to investigate the efficiency of water hyacinth and water lettuce, which are floating plants, in a stimulated hydroponic system for domestic wastewater treatment using a university's dormitory wastewater for 9 days. The results showed that both plants could treat wastewater efficiently, especially water hardness (% treatment=80.26 and 75.00), ammonia nitrogen (% treatment=76.18 and 81.31) and total dissolved solid (% treatment=71.43 and 63.04) for water hyacinth and water lettuce, respectively (p<0.05). The percentage of treatment of phosphate phosphorus, total solid, total suspended solid, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), fat/oil/grease (FOG) and total bacteria were in the range 27.07-69.23%. Dissolved oxygen was increased by 15.56-17.29%. The process of rhizofiltration of these plants played an important role in the reduction of nutrients, minerals and solids. Plants also transport atmospheric and photosynthetic oxygen to the roots and release oxygen to water. However, water hyacinth and water lettuce did not affect the temperature and pH, because the experimental models were established in a greenhouse. The pH of wastewater was not significantly different (p>0.05). The pH of treated water was between 6.8-7.0, which did not exceed the standard value. In conclusion, water hyacinth and water lettuce were useful for domestic wastewater treatment and appropriate to local operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The study was undertaken to determine the phytochemical screening and the antibacterial activities of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce) against some clinically isolated fish pathogens. Methods: The healthy and disease free plants samples were collected from Jebba Upper Basin of River Niger and tested for their antibacterial activities and phytochemical properties. Pistia stratiotes aqueous extract was extracted using sterile distilled water. The Agar diffused methods were used to determine the antimicrobial actions of the plant against fish pathogens of Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi, Aeromonas hydrophila, and Vibrio anguillarum. Results: The antibacterial investigation of aqueous extracts revealed the significant activity against these bacterial. Moreover, phytochemical examination of the crude extract showed the occurrence of saponins, alkaloids, tannins, anthraquinones, flavonoids, and catechins, which completely inhibited the growth of V. anguillarum and E. coli. However, Salmonella typhi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, and Aeromonas hydrophila exhibited moderate varying levels of resistance. Conclusion: The finding of this study showed that bioactive resistance from Pistia stratiotes can help disrupt the activities of various fish bacterial in aquaculture practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A method to map Pistia stratiotes L. in dynamic urban water systems over time. • A combination of high-resolution UAV imagery and DL was used to map the IAPs. • The DeepLabv3 + model with ResNet-34 backbone achieved superior classification. • The distribution area of free-floating Pistia stratiotes L. can change rapidly. Despite water ecosystems being capable of sustaining biodiversity and enhancing the overall resilience of the urban environment, they are highly susceptible to biological invasions. Invasive aquatic plants (IAPs) threaten the natural environment by reducing the diversity of native aquatic plants and animal communities. Detecting IAPs and mapping their distribution is crucial for the protection of urban water ecosystems. This study is the first of its kind to use high-resolution unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery and deep learning approaches to monitor the expansion of Pistia stratiotes (water lettuce). A DJI Matrice 300 RTK was utilized to capture time-series images with a resolution of 0.018 m on the Guanyin Lake, Cangshan District, Fuzhzou, China, during an outbreak and subsequent rapid growth stage of water lettuce. Three deep learning model architectures and three backbones were combined to detect water lettuce. Model performance and the ability to generalize the model were evaluated to determine the optimal model for water lettuce detection from time-series high-resolution UAV imagery. Results show that the DeepLabv3 + model with ResNet-34 achieved superior performance in detecting water lettuce from time-series imagery, yielding an average accuracy of 90.24 % (85.33 %≤F1_score ≤ 96.54 %) for water lettuce detection on five different dates. For the UAV image acquired on September 26th, the U-Net model with ResNet-18 yielded the highest accuracy (F1_score = 92.46 %), but it was not the optimal model for multi-temporal water lettuce detection on subsequent dates. The distribution of water lettuce can have large variations at different times, with an average change rate of 49.50 % every two days and the highest change rate up to 60.33 %. The study demonstrates that the combination of UAV imagery and a deep learning model can achieve excellent accuracy for water lettuce monitoring and provide a method to map IAPs in dynamic urban water systems over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims Clonal plants dominate many plant communities, especially in aquatic systems, and clonality appears to promote invasiveness and to affect how diversity changes in response to disturbance and resource availability. Understanding how the special physiological and morphological properties of clonal growth lead to these ecological effects depends upon studying the long-term consequences of clonal growth properties across vegetative generations, but this has rarely been done. This study aimed to show how a key clonal property, physiological integration between connected ramets within clones, affects the response of clones to disturbance and resources in an aquatic, invasive, dominant species across multiple generations. Methods Single, parental ramets of the floating stoloniferous plant Pistia stratiotes were grown for 3 weeks, during which they produced two or three generations of offspring; connections between new ramets were cut or left intact. Individual offspring were then used as parents in a second 3-week iteration that crossed fragmentation with previous fragmentation in the first iteration. A third iteration yielded eight treatment combinations, zero to three rounds of fragmentation at different times in the past. The experiment was run once at a high and once at a low level of nutrients. Results In each iteration, fragmentation increased biomass of the parental ramet, decreased biomass of the offspring and increased number of offspring. These effects persisted and compounded from one iteration to another, though more recent fragmentation had stronger effects, and were stronger at the low than at the high nutrient level. Fragmentation did not affect net accumulation of mass by groups after one iteration but increased it after two iterations at low nutrients, and after three iterations at both nutrient levels. Conclusions Both the positive and negative effects of fragmentation on clonal performance can compound and persist over time and can be stronger when resource levels are lower. Even when fragmentation has no short-term net effect on clonal performance, it can have a longer-term effect. In some cases, fragmentation may increase total accumulation of mass by a clone. The results provide the first demonstration of how physiological integration in clonal plants can affect fitness across generations and suggest that increased disturbance may promote invasion of introduced clonal species via effects on integration, perhaps especially at lower nutrient levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copper contamination of industrial waste streams is increasingly common with copper used in an array of industrial processes. Phytoremediation of copper-contaminated water with Pistia stratiotes presents a cost-effective, efficient and uncomplicated alternative for copper removal from industrial wastewater. This study examines the ability of Pistia stratiotes to remove copper from distilled water representing a highly nutrient-deficient medium and natural surface water containing plant nutrients inherently. Control and experimental sets were set up with growth solutions of distilled water and natural surface water spiked with 5 g/mL, 10 g/mL, 15 g/mL, 20 g/mL and 25 g/mL copper. The control sets were devoid of Pistia stratiotes while the experimental sets contained Pistia stratiotes. Copper concentration and pH of the solutions were tracked over 10 days. This study revealed the ability of Pistia stratiotes to remove copper in both types of growth solution with contamination level ranging from 5 to 25 mg/L and pointed to its ability to phytoremediate higher level of copper contamination. Pistia stratiotes also raised the pH of the growth solutions. Copper removal from both types of growth solution demonstrated a predominantly first-order elimination kinetics except for copper concentrations above 15 mg/L in distilled water where the zero-order elimination kinetics predominated. Copper removal efficiency decreased with increasing copper concentrations in both types of growth solution with removal efficiency in natural surface water growth solutions consistently higher. It highlights the ability of Pistia stratiotes to phytoremediate highly nutrient-deficient and natural surface water media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Contamination of water sources due to herbicide is of great concern. Clomazone is a pesticide with a high contamination potential which could possibility lixiviate to water streams. Changes caused by residual herbicide include flora modifications which are generally detrimental for some species. The lack of morphological studies performed in aquatic plants exposed to herbicide-contaminated environments has encouraged the development of our research. For the first time, we present a study that aimed to evaluate leaf injuries visible to the naked eye as well as microscopical effects which may be caused by clomazone on Pistia stratiotes. Pistia stratiotes was subjected to five concentrations of clomazone. Our analysis showed leaf injuries, especially after 15 days of clomazone application. Hormesis was observed when the water lettuce was subjected to the lower concentrations. Total leaf area showed increase following by reduction while injured until reaching the highest concentration. Although the concentrations of clomazone tested in our study are not lethal to water lettuce, such herbicide have still caused morphoanatomical damages on leaves which advocates for the use of P. stratiotes as a bioindicator of the presence of herbicides such as clomazone in water.