HEAVY METALS (Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu) UPTAKE BY SPRING BARLEY IN POLLUTED SOILS

Abstract

Accumulation of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu (HM) by spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) from sod podzolic sandy loam and chernozem soils, impacted by heavy metals pollution in the soils, is studied in the article. The aim of study has been to determine spring barley bioaccumulation capacity impacted by the HM pollution with the high level of Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu concentration in soils. The HM concentration diapason caused biomass reduction – the scope of toxic tolerance was obtained. The range of contaminants concentration in soil, which caused the plant biomass reduction, from the beginning to plants death – the scope of toxic tolerance, is the index of a species reaction on selected xenobiotic. It shows: “threshold” concentration of a contaminant that caused a plant biomass inhibition; toxic process development and the correlation between contaminants concentration in soil and/or plant and the plants inhibition; the concentration that caused the plant death. Spring barley accumulation indexes of the studied metals were calculated. Relevant scopes of the plant-uptake index for each metal were calculated. Dynamics of the toxic process development of spring barley as impacted by the pollution in the break-down by studied metals were observed on two different soils. Toxic process dynamic evaluation gives the possibility to simulate concentration of the trace metal in plants, concentration of available forms of these elements in soils, and also contamination level (content of metals) that caused plants height and plant weight reduction by 10%, 50% and 90%.

Celem pracy było określenie wpływu zanieczyszczenia gleb piaszczysto-gliniastych bielicowych i czarnoziemów przez matale ciężkie (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu) na biakumulację tych pierwiastków w jęczmieniu jarym (Hordeum vulgare L.). Podwyższone stężenie metali ciężkich spowodowało spadek plonu biomasy (od 10 do 90%). Stwierdzono, że im wyższe stężenie pierwiastków w glebie tym reakcja negatywna roślin była większa, aż do zamierania roślin. Wyliczono wskaźniki akumulacji dla każdego z pierwiastków metali. Ocena dynamiki procesu zanieczyszczenia gleb przez metale ciężkie (na podstawie wskaźników akumulacji) daje możliwość stymulowania stężenia tych pierwiastków w glebie.