Activity of soil enzymes during phytoremediation of arsenic in artificial wetlands

Enzymatic activity is one of the most essential biochemical mechanisms in CWs and plays a significant function in discharging nutrients from organic molecules. This study aimed to consider the activity of soil enzymes in CWs during the phytoremediation of As and to evaluate the interaction between the enzyme activity and As phytoremediation. The treatments (control, 39 mg kg^-1As, 2% nine-rhizobacteria consortium + 39 mg kg^-1As, 0.04% NPKS fertilizer + 39 mg kg^-1As, and 2% nine-rhizobacteria consortium + 0.04% NPKS fertilizer + 39 mg kg^-1As) were studied for assessing different enzymatic activity and plant-microbe interaction during phytoremediation of As in CWs. The activities of various enzymes were significantly higher at rhizosphere sand than at non-rhizosphere sand and leachate. However, enzyme activity was significantly higher in non-rhizosphere sand than in rhizosphere sand in the case of only alkaline phosphatase enzyme. A significant interaction was observed between the activity of enzymes and As phytoremediation which linear correlation coefficients at rhizosphere sand were 0.9812, 0.9484, 0.9271, 0.925, 0.9175, 0.8661, 0.9598, 0.9261, and 0.87 for urease, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, arylsulphatase, β-glucosidase, dehydrogenase, amylase, catalase, and total enzyme respectively. These enzymatic functions helped in waste breakdown; hence, higher enzymatic activity may boost As phytoremediation in CWs. So, these results of the current investigation will significantly provide knowledge of plant-microbe relationships for the phytoremediation of arsenic in CWs.