Impact of Metal/Metalloid-Contaminated Areas on Plant Growth
The efficiency of plants growing in areas polluted by heavy metals/metalloids depends on many factors having different influences. The aim of this work was to determine the influence of selected factors (soil, microbes, and the kind of plant) on plant gro
- PDF / 254,350 Bytes
- 22 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 31 Downloads / 230 Views
Impact of Metal/Metalloid-Contaminated Areas on Plant Growth Mirosław Mleczek, Andrzej Mocek, Zuzanna Magdziak, Monika Ga˛secka, and Agnieszka Mocek-Pło´ciniak
5.1
Introduction
The development of industry, improvement of living conditions, and the use of traditional sources of energy have contributed to a drastic deterioration of the condition of the natural environment. Its overexploitation has caused soil and water pollution with several toxic and hazardous chemicals. Heavy metals and metalloids constitute a special group of pollutants due to their non-biodegradability as well as ready transport up the trophic chain. The problem of metals/metalloids, although usually limited to a given surface, is still global in character and should not be underestimated (Bhargava et al. 2012). Simple and relatively cheap remediation methods for degraded areas are searched for both in research papers and in industrial practice. Despite their limitations (Mench et al. 2010), currently applied biological methods (bioremediation and phytoremediation) are gaining popularity (Bone et al. 2010; Prasad et al. 2010). In the case of phytoremediation, growth of vegetation in a polluted area is frequently limited or even inhibited. In extreme cases we may observe plants withering immediately after planting or shortly afterwards. For this reason, it is a key element to select appropriate plants (species/variety), depending on their habitat requirements, adaptability, as well as characteristics of the polluted area (the type and concentration of pollutants, availability of water) (Shukla et al. 2011). The application of a specific plant in M. Mleczek (*) • Z. Magdziak • M. Ga˛secka Department of Chemistry, Poznan´ University of Life Sciences, Wojska Polskiego 75, 60-625 Poznan´, Poland e-mail: [email protected] A. Mocek Department of Soil Science and Land Protection, University of Life Science, Szydłowska 50, 60-656 Poznan´, Poland A. Mocek-Pło´ciniak Department of General and Environmental Microbiology, University of Life Science, Szydłowska 50, 60-656 Poznan´, Poland D.K. Gupta (ed.), Plant-Based Remediation Processes, Soil Biology 35, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35564-6_5, # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013
79
80
M. Mleczek et al.
the remediation of degraded areas should be preceded by analyses in the hydroponic system and then field trials, in order to determine actual capacity to absorb toxic elements and to identify the effect of environmental conditions on plant behaviour (Zabłudowska et al. 2009). Another essential criterion is associated with biomass, since plants exhibiting high efficiency of heavy metal uptake are generally characterised by a slight increase in biomass (Herna´ndez-Allica et al. 2008). In this respect full understanding of the genetic regulation of plant biomass production is crucial (Demura and Ye 2010). Within the last 20 years many different tools have been used to increase the efficiency of phytoremediation thanks to the application of specific additives in the form of complexing substances (Yan et a
Data Loading...
