Heavy Metals in Soil and Application of New Plant Materials in the Process of Phytoremediation

The aim of this paper is to determine the concentration of Pb, Cd, and Zn in: I) alluvial soil; and II) plants: a) vegetable: lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and common onion (Allium cepa); b) legumes: bird's- foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) and red clover (Trifolium pretense L.); and c) grasses (weed plants): zubach (Cynodon dactylon) and tall fescue (Festuca arundinaceous Schreb.); as well as III) determination of new plant species suitable for bioaccumulation and phytoremediation processes. The experimental work was carried out through vegetation experiments, and the concentration of metal was determined by potentiometric stripping analysis (PSA). The obtained results show that: I) the concentration of metals in the analyzed soil is above the allowed values at all measuring points; II) a) concentration of Cd in leaf and Pb at the root of the lettuce is increased; b) the concentration of the metal in the bird's-foot trefoil and the red clover is lower than the critical value for the plants; c) in grasses (weed plants), tall fescue and couch grass, the concentration of metal is higher than critical in all measuring points, and in some places it has a value that is toxic for plants; and e) weed plants: tall fescue and couch grass contain high concentrations of heavy metals indicating a certain degree of tolerance and the possibility of using these plants in the bioaccumulation and phytoremediation process.