Soybean phytoremediation of cadmium polluted agricultured soil

Abstract

Soil pollution with cadmium is due to strengthened industrial development, especially in the areas of drilling, exploitation and processing of mineral raw materials. Many investigation have shown that in Republic of Macedonia there are several areas with significant higher content of cadmium in the soil, including the vicinity of the mine lead and zinc “Zletovo” near the town of Probištip. Phytoremediation is one of the most convenient techniques for remediation of heavy metals from contaminated soils. Previously conducted studies are proposing a several plant species that can be used for efficient phytoremediation. The main issue of the present study was to determine the effectiveness of soybean varieties for phytoremediation of agricultural soils with higher content of cadmium. For that purpose, three soybean varieties with short vegetation were used: Pella, Avigea and OW in association with rhyzobacterium Bradyrhizobium japonicum. Physical-chemical analyses of soil were made, such as: pH, CEC, EC, organic matter, soil texture, available potassium and phosphorus, total and available Cd. The total content of Cd was determined in l the separate parts of the plant (root, stem, leaf, seed and pod). The analysis determined that the varieties Pella and OW shows high potential for phytostabilization/ phytoextraction of cadmium from soil (BAF>1 and TF>1).