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Contrasting effects of organic amendments on phytoextraction of heavy metals in a contaminated sediment

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Abstract

Background and aims

Soil amendments are often added to polluted soils to increase phytoremediation efficiency. Here we investigated the potential of a range of organic amendments for phytoextraction of heavy metals in a contaminated sediment.

Methods

Two experiments compared adsorption and phytoextraction of heavy metals by a Cd-hyperaccumulator Carpobrotus rossii grown in the contaminated sediment amended with six organic amendments.

Results

The adsorption capacity as measured by Langmuir adsorption maximum followed the order of Cr > Zn > Cu > Cd, and the effect of organic amendments followed the order of chicken manure > cow manure > brown coal > golden wattle biochar > blue gum biochar > radiata pine biochar. The addition of amendments increased the adsorption of heavy metals, with brown coal resulting in the lowest concentrations of water-extractable Cd, Cu and Zn. Two manures resulted in the highest concentrations of these water-extractable heavy metals in the rhizosphere soil of C. rossii. Furthermore, brown coal resulted in higher shoot accumulation of these heavy metals than three wood-derived biochars, whilst the manures generally had the lowest accumulation of Cd and Cu although they increased shoot biomass.

Conclusions

The addition of brown coal decreased whereas manure addition increased the mobility (water-extractable fraction) of heavy metals in rhizosphere soil. Phytoextraction of Cd and Cu was greater with brown coal than with biochars or manures. Brown coal is suitable for enhancing phytoextraction of these heavy metals because it could increase their accumulation in shoots of C. rossii and decrease the risk of leaching of these heavy metals into groundwater.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Augustine Doronila for his assistance to collect the sediment, Drs. Xiaojuan Wang and Gaëlle Ng Kam Chuen for their assistance in chemical analysis and Mr. Rob Evans for setting up the experiment. We also thank an anonymous reviewer for the constructive comments. This research was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP100100800).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for AgriBioscience, La Trobe University, Melbourne Campus, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    Chengjun Zhang, Gary J. Clark, Miaomiao Cheng, Peter W. G. Sale & Caixian Tang

  2. School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

    Antonio F. Patti

  3. Global Institute for Environmental Research (GIER), The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Nanthi Bolan

Authors
  1. Chengjun Zhang
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  2. Gary J. Clark
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  3. Antonio F. Patti
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Correspondence to Caixian Tang.

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Responsible Editor: Peter Christie.

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Zhang, C., Clark, G.J., Patti, A.F. et al. Contrasting effects of organic amendments on phytoextraction of heavy metals in a contaminated sediment. Plant Soil 397, 331–345 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2615-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-015-2615-1

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