Abstract
Petroleum contamination is a significant environmental problem in the Yellow River Delta. The responses of two native salt-tolerant plant species, alfalfa (Medicago sativa) and bristle grass (Setaria uiridis Beauv), to soil petroleum contamination were investigated at five levels between 0 and 2.0% (w/w). Results showed that the total, aboveground and underground plant biomasses of both species were significantly reduced by petroleum contamination (p < 0.05), with the inhibition enhanced with increased petroleum levels. However, the emergence rate of bristle grass was promoted by petroleum contamination. Following 100 days of exposure, the number of soil petroleum degraders increased greatly, with a trend of initial increase followed by a decrease at 1.5% contamination or higher. Compared to bulk soils, bacteria-degrading alkanes, total hydrocarbons and PAHs in alfalfa rhizosphere soils increased by 1.33–4.18-, 0.85–3.01- and 4.12–12.75-fold, respectively, with an increase of 2.80–10.00-, 4.42–14.44- and 7.30–26.00-fold in bristle grass rhizosphere soils, respectively. The greatest number of petroleum degraders in bristle grass rhizosphere soils resulted in the highest petroleum degradation rate. Bristle grass may be the optimal species for petroleum remediation in the studied area.
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Acknowledgements
This research was financially supported by the Provincial Natural Science Foundation of Shandong (ZR2013DM001, ZR2010CL010), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401359) and the International Cooperation Program for Key Professor of 2014 by the Shandong Provincial Education Department, China.
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Highlights
• Responses of two plant species to petroleum-contaminated soils were investigated.
• Plant biomass significantly reduced, with variations in plant emergence rates.
• Microbial degraders increased, then decreased with petroleum contamination levels.
• Bristle grass may be an ideal species for soil petroleum contamination remediation.
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Xie, W., Zhang, Y., Li, R. et al. The responses of two native plant species to soil petroleum contamination in the Yellow River Delta, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 24438–24446 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0085-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-0085-0