Assessment of remediation potential of flora of the Southern Urals

Soil degradation caused by human activities currently remains one of the most important environmental problems. Phytoremediation is a group of technologies for environmental clean-up and soil restoration by plants. The level of soil contamination, the bioavailability of pollutants, as well as the accumulation of metals by the plant are crucial for phytoremediation. Currently, it seems relevant to study representatives of the herbaceous flora typical for the region from the point of view of accumulation of pollutant metals. For the study we selected 5 sites located in different areas of Orenburg city. The plots estimated the content of total and active forms of heavy metals in the soil. On the study sites, samples were taken from plants during the growing season. The study analyzed the biomass of 11 plant species from 5 families and 8 elements. As a result of a comparative analysis obtained, the paper presents calculated correlation coefficients (R) between the indicators of the concentration of heavy metals in the soil and plants from the point of view of the accumulation efficiency of Pb and Cd. Plants-phytoremediators accumulate Pb from inactive soil forms – Cichorium intybus L. (R²=0.72 at P<0.05) and Polygonum aviculare L. (R²=0.57 at P<0.05). Plant accumulating Pb due to the absorption of its active forms – Arctium lappa L. (R²=0.4 at P<0.01). Promising phytoremediators of available forms of Cd – Polygonum aviculare L. (R²=0.65 at P<0.05) and Plantago media L. (R²=0.55 at P<0.05). (paper)