الفهرس 
Potentiality of the ornamental plant Vinca rosea for remediation of crude petroleum oil pollution
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Abstract
Phytoremediation is determined as an emerging green technology suitable for the safe
remediation and restoration of polluted terrestrial and aquatic environments. In this study, the
assessment of an ornamental plant, Vinca rosea L., as a phytoremediator of crude oil in
polluted soils was conducted. Plants were raised in sandy-clayey soils treated with 1%, 3%,
5%, and 7% oil by weight. Measurements covered plant growth, photosynthetic pigments,
antioxidant, and genotoxicity traits. The soil was analyzed to measure total petroleum
hydrocarbons (TPH) and determine the molecular type composition of the extracted oil. The
experiment was conducted over five months. Plants raised in polluted soils demonstrated a
dramatic reduction in germination rates, in addition to growth inhibition outcomes shown
from decreased plant height. An increase in branching was observed with an increase in oil
pollution percentages. Moreover, the phytomass allocated to the leaves was higher, while the
phytomass witnessed lower values for fine roots, flowering and fruiting when compared to
the controls. There was a decrease in the chlorophyll a/b ratio, which was inversely
proportional to the oil pollution level. The contents of carotenoids, tannins, phenolics,
flavonoids, and antioxidant capacity were elevated directly with an increase in oil pollution
level. The start codon targeted (SCoT) polymorphisms and inter-simple sequence repeats
(ISSR) primers showed the molecular variations between the control and plants raised in
polluted soils. TPH degradation percentage by V. rosea after a 5-month growth period ranged
from 86.83 ± 0.44% to 59.05% ± 0.45% in soil treated with 1% and 7%, respectively. The
relative abundance of n-paraffins in the saturated hydrocarbons fraction was significantly
reduced in V. rosea planted soils in comparison to crude oil and unplanted controls. Polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon level was reduced in V. rosea planted soils. The ability of V. rosea to
degrade and alter the composition of crude oil, and balance the increased or decreased plant
functional traits at the macro and micro levels of plant structure in response to crude oil
pollution supports the use of the species for phytoremediation of crude oil-polluted sites.
Further studies are required to demonstrate the mechanism of phenolic, flavonoid, and
antioxidant compounds in the protection of plants against crude oil pollution stress. Testing
different molecular markers and studying the differentially expressed genes will help
understand the behaviour of genetic polymorphism and stress-resistant genes in response to
crude oil pollution.