Phytoremediation of Soils by Cultivation Miscanthus x Giganteus L. and Phalaris arundinacea L.

Abstract

Restoring soil fertility and protecting it from pollution are complex scientific tasks of our time that require a set of physical, chemical and biological measures. An important theoretical and applied aspect is the development of new remediation methods to reduce soil degradation processes under the influence of chemical pollution. The publication analyzes the ecological features of the energy crops Miscanthus giganteus L. and Phalaris arundinacea L. as phytoremediation agents of soils contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, and oil products. The content of toxicants in contaminated soils as a result of energy crops cultivation has significantly decreased, in particular, the content of mobile forms and the mass fraction of heavy metals. The greatest decrease was observed in the content of mobile forms of chromium: in the area contaminated with petroleum products by 0.55 mg/kg when growing reeds and by 1.06 mg/kg when growing miscanthus, and in the area contaminated with pesticides by 3.65 and 5.25 mg/kg, respectively. The gross stibium content decreased in the area contaminated with oil products by 60 mg/kg when growing reeds and by 69.61 mg/kg of soil when growing miscanthus, and by 65.68 and 78.35 mg/kg in the area contaminated with pesticides. The concentration of cadmium in the studied plots where energy crops were grown decreased in the range of 0.131–0.193 mg/kg when growing Phalaris arundinacea L. and by 0.187–0.312 mg/kg when growing Miscanthus giganteus L., respectively. The content of organic pollutants was also significantly reduced.