Soil Factors Controlling Arsenic Availability for Silene vulgaris

Abstract

The arsenic (As) resistance of Silene vulgaris is studied on two Mediterranean soils, spiked with As and grown under semicontrolled conditions. The results showed that this species accumulates high amounts of As in roots, but both transfer and translocation factors were far from the values found in the As hyperaccumulator species. Arsenic availability in both tested soils is related to soil parameters as follows: Phosphorus (P) > iron oxides > pH. Silene plants studied did not show visual symptoms of As toxicity except for growth reductions at the greater As doses and in the soil with greater P availability; this would indicate the As resistance ability of this plant population.

Keywords:

• Available phosphorus
• iron oxides
• phytoremediation
• resistance
• soil pH
• soil properties

Acknowledgments

This work has been financed by the Madrid Research Program EIADES S2009/AMB-1478 and by INIA “Ayuda para la contratación de Doctores INIA-CCAA.”