Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area

Lu, Nan; Li, Gang; Sun, Yingying; Wei, Yang; He, Lirong; Li, Yan

doi:10.3390/land10111129

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Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area

by

Nan Lu

^1,2,3,4

,

Gang Li

^1,2,3,4,

Yingying Sun

^1,2,3,4,*,

Yang Wei

^1,2,3,4,

Lirong He

^1,2,3,4 and

Yan Li

^1,2,3,4

¹

Shaanxi Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd., Xi’an Jiaotong University, Technology Innovation Center for Land Engineering and Human Settlements, Xi’an 712000, China

²

Key Laboratory of Degraded and Unused Land Consolidation Engineering, The Ministry of Natural Resources, Xi’an 710075, China

³

Institute of Land Engineering and Technology, Shaanxi Provincial Land Engineering Construction Group Co., Ltd., Xi’an 710075, China

⁴

Shaanxi Provincial Land Consolidation Engineering Technology Research Center, Xi’an 710075, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Land 2021, 10(11), 1129; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111129

Submission received: 29 September 2021 / Revised: 21 October 2021 / Accepted: 22 October 2021 / Published: 24 October 2021

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Contamination of Soils and Environmental Risks)

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Abstract

Metal pollution in soils is an issue of global concern, and lead (Pb) pollution is considered to be the most serious type. The arid and semi-arid areas of Northwest China are rich in Pb ore resources. In this study, four native crops [wormwood (Artemisia capillaris), dandelion (Taraxacum mongolicum), alfalfa (Medicago sativa), and plantain (Plantago asiatica L.)] that grow naturally around tailings slag in a mining area in Northwest China were selected to screen their ecological restoration impacts on Pb-contaminated soil. In pot experiments, four different metal lead pollution gradients (0, 2, 3, and 5‰ w/w) were set, and crop growth indexes such as plant height, root length, and biomass, together with the changes of soil Pb content in different tissues and organs before and after planting were analyzed. The results showed the difference in the amount of accumulated Pb in relation to the level of Pb content in the soil. It was found that wormwood and plantain have great potential as remediation plants for soil metal lead pollution in the arid and semi-arid lead bearing mining areas of Northwest China.

Keywords: lead contaminated/pollution; phytoremediation; tolerance; accumulation; distribution

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MDPI and ACS Style

Lu, N.; Li, G.; Sun, Y.; Wei, Y.; He, L.; Li, Y. Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area. Land 2021, 10, 1129. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111129

AMA Style

Lu N, Li G, Sun Y, Wei Y, He L, Li Y. Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area. Land. 2021; 10(11):1129. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111129

Chicago/Turabian Style

Lu, Nan, Gang Li, Yingying Sun, Yang Wei, Lirong He, and Yan Li. 2021. "Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area" Land 10, no. 11: 1129. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111129

APA Style

Lu, N., Li, G., Sun, Y., Wei, Y., He, L., & Li, Y. (2021). Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area. Land, 10(11), 1129. https://doi.org/10.3390/land10111129

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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Phytoremediation Potential of Four Native Plants in Soils Contaminated with Lead in a Mining Area

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