Effect of sources of organic matter in the alleviation of the toxic effects of B, Zn, Cu, Mn and Pb to Brassica Juncea

As a result of anthropogenic activities such as mining, metal industry and agricultural fertilizer application, metal pollution has become one of the most serious environmental problems of today. Phytoremediation denotes the use of plants and micro-biota, together or without soil amendments, to extract, sequester, and/or detoxify pollutants, has been reported to be an effective, non-destructive, inexpensive and socially accepted technique to remediate polluted soils. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of organic amendments in the reduction of heavy metal and B availability for mustard. The experiment was carried out under green house conditions and the treatments arranged in a 3 x 5 factorial scheme. The following organic materials were used: solomax, peat, and humic mineral concentrate (0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 g kg(-1) C). Peat and humic mineral concentrate reduced extractable Zn, Cu, Pb and B in soil and mustard shoots, though not enough to avoid toxic effects on plants. The organic amendments also raised the concentrations of extractable Mn in the soil, however only solomax produced an increase of Mn in shoots. The effects of peat and humic mineral concentrate on the availability of Zn, Cu, Mn, Pb and B in soil and shoots and on mustard growth indicated the potential as amendment for contaminated soil. Results further indicated solomax as useful for phytoextraction.