Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in hot pepper grown in biochar and animal manure-amended soil
Published 22 October, 2026
Heavy metals are non-biodegradable and persist in the environment longer, contaminating the food chain. Phytoremediation has emerged as a reliable, eco-friendly, cost-effective and sustainable approach that utilizes plants to remediate soil or water contaminants. T
A study published in Environmental Pollution and Management assessed the ability of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum cv. Georgia Flame) grown under seven soil amendments: vermicompost, inorganic fertilizer, sewage sludge, organic fertilizer, chicken manure, horse manure and biochar on heavy metals remediation. The research was conducted in an RCBD split-plot design and heavy metal concentrations were analyzed using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES).
The results revealed that the average concentration of K (105.69 mgKg−1) and Mg (12.8 mgKg−1) were the highest in hot pepper fruits. However, Zn (0.16 mgKg−1) was found in the maximum amount among all heavy metals, whereas Cr (0.002 mgKg−1) was found in the minimum amount.
Notably, biochar with amendments enhanced the bioaccumulation of heavy metals, suggesting that it is an essential amendment for heavy metal remediation. The average bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of Pb (0.72), Mn (0.07) and Cr (0.16) were less than 1, indicating no effect on soil metal remediation.
Conversely, Cd (5.69), Mg (22.76), Zn (10.07), Ni (117.2) and Cu (46.37) exhibited a BAF value exceeding 1, suggesting that hot peppers have the potential to remediate these particular soil metals. Nonetheless, although Cd, Ni, Mg, Cu and Zn showed a BAF value greater than 1, their accumulation in the fruits remained within the permissible limit. Hence, the authors noted that hot pepper is a potential crop for remediating heavy metals.
Contact the author:
Basanta Neupane
School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, Kentucky State University, Frankfort, KY 40601, USA
Funder:
The United States Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA) to Kentucky State University supported the research project under the agreement # KYX-10–23-80P Accession 7005611 to Kentucky State University.
Conflict of interest:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: George F. Antonious reports financial support was provided by US Department of Agriculture. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
See the article:
Basanta Neupane; George F. Antonious; Mohammad H. Dawood; Anjan Nepal. Bioaccumulation of heavy metals in hot pepper grown in biochar and animal manure-amended soil. Environ. Pollut. Manag. 2026, 3, 42–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epm.2025.09.006