Ability of Glomus mosseae-Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Association for Heavy Metal Phytoextraction from Soil

Document Type : Original Articles

Authors

1 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Crop Sciences, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Mazandaran, Iran

2 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Ghaemshahr Branch, Iran

3 Department of Soil Biology, Soil and Water Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

4 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Iran

5 Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agricultural and Natural Resources, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

A pot experiment was conducted to determine the phytoextractive ability of alfalfa plants both inoculated (I) and non-inoculated (I0) with Glomus mosseae under different combinations of heavy metal pollution. Alfalfa inoculated and non-inoculated plants were exposed to Cadmium (Cd), Lead (Pb), Cobalt (Co), Cd*Co, Cd*Pb, Pb*Co and Cd*Pb*Co in a factorial experiment. The heavy metal concentrations in the leaves, stems, shoots and roots were measured. In inoculated and non-inoculated plants, contamination concentration in shoots was higher than in root. Findings indicated that in the triple metal treatment (Cd*Pb*Co) inoculated plants were preferred. This showed that G. mosseae tolerated intensive contamination and transferred contaminants to alfalfa shoots. These results suggest that alfalfa inoculated plants are potentially suitable for phytoextraction of heavy metals in multiple heavy metal stress

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