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Abstract
Soil pollution with toxic metals has become an important social and environmental challenge. When the polluted area is large and the site poses little immediate risk to health or environment, in situ remediation technologies can be envisaged. Here we used a polyacrylate polymer to immobilize cadmium (Cd) in a sandy soil artificially contaminated with the metal. Growth of perennial ryegrass in pots with 9.5 kg of soil was stimulated in polymer-amended soil. Even in pots with the highest levels of Cd, growth was much less impaired than in pots without polymer. Shoot Cd concentrations were smaller in the plants cultivated in the amended soil. Because water soluble Cd was considerably reduced in the contaminated polymer-amended soil, the effect of the polymer on plant growth was attributed to the decrease of Cd concentration in soil solution.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was funded under project 2014 of the PAMAF Programme, and the Financiamento Plurianual from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia. Cláudia Lindim had a scholarship from the Technical University of Lisbon no. 13/INV/UTL/97 and Amarilis de Varennes had a fellowship from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia no. BSAB/100/99.