The assessment of phytoremediation potential of wild plant species in areas polluted by metals is very important, as it will enable the use of eco-friendly remediation methods in these territories. Sixteen native wild plant species growing in Cu-contaminated soils of a mining region in Armenia were investigated to reveal their phytoremediation potential. In roots (dry weight) of dominant plant species in this area the content of copper varied between 55 mg/kg (
Hypericum perforatum
) and 775 mg/kg (
Thymus kotschyanus
), and in shoots of plants in the range from 33 mg/kg (
Teucrium orientale
) to 243 mg/kg (
Phleum pratense
). Since the Cu accumulation capability of plants depends both on physiological peculiarities of the plants and on the content of Cu
bioavailable
in the soil, the studies were carried out in this direction and it was found out that the high contents of soil organic matter (SOM) and clay in the soil facilitated the decrease of the ratio Cu
bioavailable
/Cu
total
and as a result, the decrease of Cu accumulation capability of plants.
Thymus kotschyanus
,
Phleum pratense
and
Achillea millefolium
had the highest phytostabilization potential from all studied species due to high bioconcentration factors of their roots (BCF
root
) and low translocation factors (TF) registered in these plants.
Research was carried out to determine and asses the influence of mining industries on soil contamination with application of various pollution indices. For soil sampling 13 points were selected. Soil samples were analyzed for heavy metals by AAS. Eleven elements were determined and the greater quantities were generally observed in case of Mo and Cu. During the testing of soil pollution level pollution load index, degree of contamination (Cd) and geoaccumulation index were used. The correlation analysis revealed the strongest positive correlation between molybdenum and copper and that the high content of mentioned elements in soil was caused by mining industry. Assessment based on Cd showed that the 33.3% of A horizon soil samples referred to a very high degree of pollution. Obtained results will be useful for implementation of control measures of pollution and the remediation techniques.
Much attention in the complex of forest pest control methods nowadays is devoted to the application of biological preparations, especially to bacterial formulations produced on the base of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) that in addition to their high biological effectiveness against injurious insects are safe for man, homoiоtherms, beneficial insects and fish. As is known only 20-40% of sprayed preparation influences directly on pests while its 60-80% by different ways eventually penetrates into the soil. Taking into account also the fact that usage norm of commercial bacterial preparations makes up to 1-3 kg ha^-1^ and that preparation powder contains 45-100 billion viable spores g^-1^ it becomes evident that as a result of spraying huge quantity of bacterial stimulants introduces into the forest soils. In this connection a goal was set to determine the impact of some separately applied domestic insecticides of BT species (BT кб-1, BT кб-2, BT(SAR)-49, BT(SAR)-54, BT(SAR)-86, BT subsp. thuringiensis) introduced into the brown forest soils after spraying on soil enzymatic activity (invertase, urease) defining its fertility. Studies were conducted in 2010 under laboratory conditions. The results obtained indicate that in soils sprayed and non-sprayed by bioinsecticides the activities of invertase and urease undergo to changes from May to August. Maximal activities in soils were registered in June (25.641mg C~6~H~12~O~6~ g^-1^ for invertase and 12.254 mg NH~3~ g^-1^ for urease) and minimal – in May (20.643 mg C~6~H~12~O~6~ g^-1^ for invertase) and in August (9.297 mg NH~3~ g^-1^ for urease) at the average for all variants. By statistical analysis of study results it has been established that there aren’t any significant differences between indices of enzyme activities in sprayed and non-sprayed by biopesticides soils. Study results have led us to the assumption that tested insecticides don’t influence adversely on enzyme activities of brown forest soils and can be widely used in the field of plant protection.
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