Cadmium and arsenic are two of the most important and toxic pollutants ubiquitous in the environment. The occurrence of numerous polluted areas as the affected by the accident of Aznalcóllar pyrite mine has promoted the employment of the phytoremediation as a feasible technology able to control and reduce the risk of this contamination at low cost. White lupin plant is proposed as a candidate for phytoremediation. This work aims to study if it is possible to use white lupin in phytoremediation of soils affected by acid pyrite sludge, with simultaneous As and Cd pollution. Pot and field experiments with sludge-affected soil were carried out. The pot trial showed that the NTA treatment increased Cd and As concentrations in lixiviates, exceeding the maximum permissible levels, so that its use in field experiments was avoided. In the field experiment, phytoextraction of Cd and As by lupin plants was very low, suggesting that it was not recommended for phytoextraction. However, lupin culture in the field produced several benefits as: increase of acid soil pH probably by citrate excretion, decrease in soluble As and Cd fractions in soil, high concentration of As and Cd in roots with accumulation of heavy metals in root nodules. All these results support the use of Lupinus albus for phytostabilization and revegetation of the spill polluted soils.

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Sweet pepper plants (Capsicum annuum L.) grown under greenhouse conditions differed widely in the rate of production of their total dry mass and their harvestable weight, although there was not shortage in water or nutrient supply. Plants were grown in aerated nutrient solutions along two different growing seasons. The differences in plant productivity were mainly due to the environmental conditions of the growth cycle. During the increasing day length season, from the beginning of spring to summer (13.0 to 14.8 h day −1 ), plants produced the largest amount of fruits, but with a 10% blossom-end rot incidence. In the season of short photoperiod, progressing from the beginning of autumn to winter with 13.3 to 10.3 light h day −1 , the total dry weight and yields gradually decreased, but blossom-end rot in fruit did not appear. Different growth patterns were found for morphological and physiological parameters, because of the different light loads received by the canopy, being adjusted to the seasonal variables. Reduced light load markedly reduced leaf area and leaf thickness, but increased specific leaf area, which gave plants an increased ability to intercept light. Not only the amount of initial biomass, but radiation and the age of the pepper plants were the main growing driving factors, influencing relative growth rate, nitrogen (N)-use efficiency, and calcium (Ca) partitioning. Moreover, mathematical approaches for prediction of biomass production and N accumulation as a function of radiation are given in order to establish in the future a sweet pepper growth model. 1803 1804 M. Prieto et al.

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