The heavy metal uptake of ten plant species was studied under different soil and climatic conditions. Effects of soil pH, temperature, plant species and phenophase on the heavy metal content of stems and leaves were determined in pot experiments. Plants and soil samples were collected from a lead/zinc mine ore (Gyöngyösoroszi, Hungary) and characterised by high contents of Pb, Zn, As, Cd, Cu. T...

Producing nutritious and safe foods sufficiently and sustainably is the ultimate goal of modern agriculture. Past efforts have focused on increasing crop yields, but enhancing the concentrations of mineral micronutrients has become an urgent task because about half of the world population suffers from the malnutrition of iron, zinc, and selenium. Biofortification of these trace elements can be ...

Anthropogenic activities cause pollution of soil, groundwater, sediments, surface water, air with unsafe and noxious chemicals is one of the main crises facing the industrialized world today. Over the last century, public apprehension about environmental pollution has increased remarkably. Now a days, polluted soils and waters as a result of global industrialization pose a major environmental a...

In a column experiment with horizontal permeable barriers, the effects of a biodegradable chelator-nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) on the uptake of heavy metals from municipal solid waste (MSW) compost by Festuca arundinacea and metal leaching were investigated. The use of NTA was effective in increasing Cu, Pb, and Zn uptakes in shoots of two crops of F. arundinacea. In columns with barriers and t...

Salix caprea is well suited for phytoextraction strategies. In a previous survey we showed that genetically distinct S. caprea plants isolated from metal-polluted and unpolluted sites differed in their zinc (Zn) and cadmium (Cd) tolerance and accumulation abilities. To determine the molecular basis of this difference we examined putative homologues of genes involved in heavy metal responses and...

The planting of trees on mine wastelands is an effective, long-term technique for phytoremediation of heavy metal-contaminated wastes. In this study, a pot experiment with seedlings of Koelreuteria paniculata under six treatments of local mine wastes was designed to determine the major constraints on tree establishment and to evaluate the feasibility of planting K. paniculata on manganese mine ...

Previous studies have shown that salicylates can change the ion permeability of root cells. Therefore the possible effects of exogenous salicylate application on lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) accumulation and its protective role against DNA damage due to metal exposure in Lemna gibba were studied. L. gibba was exposed to 5, 10, and 25 microM Pb and Cu for six days in the presence and absence of sod...