Landfill Leachate Effects on Germination and Seedling Growth of Hemp Cultivars (Cannabis Sativa L.)

Landfill leachate is one of the major sources of pollutions discharged into the environment. It is composed from a complex mixture of chemicals and handling typically involves treatment either on-site or at a wastewater treatment plants but phytoremediation is a promising method. The aim of this work was to evaluate the potential of agronomic plant species with high annual biomass yield (Cannabis sativa L.) for toxicity removal from landfill leachate. Raw leachate collected from the pond of untreated leachate at sanitary landfill in Czech Republic was used in the study. The hemp cultivation experiments were performed in the beginning of 2017 under laboratory conditions using three hemp cultivars registered in the European Union: Tiborszallasi (Hungary), Bialobrzeska (Poland) and Monoica (Hungary). The seeds were used for modified standard mustard germination test. The germination of hemp cultivars was tested using the hydroponics medium supplemented with leachate 25, 50, 75, 90 and 100%. The control seeds were growing on untreated nutrient medium under the same condition. The nature of germination of seeds was studied. Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the tested samples of leachate were toxic for hemp cultivars (C. sativa L.). Growth inhibition (%) at the studied samples ranged from −6.48 to 75.78%.