Combined forage grass-microbial for remediation of strontium-contaminated soil

Abstract

Enrichment plants were screened from six forage grasses in this study to establish a complete combined forage grass-microbial remediation system of strontium-contaminated soil, and microbial groups were added to the screened dominant forage grasses. The occurrence states of strontium in forage grasses were explored by the BCR sequential extraction method. The results showed that the annual removal rate of Sudan grass (Sorghum sudanense (Piper) Stapf.) reached 23.05% in soil with a strontium concentration of 500 mg·kg−1. Three dominant microbial groups: E, G and H, have shown good facilitation effects in co-remediation with Sudan grass and Gaodan grass (Sorghum bicolor × sudanense), respectively. When compared to the control, the strontium accumulation of forage grasses in kg of soil with microbial groups was increased by 0.5–4 fold. The optimal forage grass-microbial combination can theoretically repair contaminated soil in three years. The microbial group E was found to promote the transfer of the exchangeable state and the reducible state of strontium to the overground part of the forage grass. Metagenomic sequencing results showed that the addition of microbial groups increased Bacillus spp. in rhizosphere soil, enhanced the disease resistance and tolerance of forage grasses, and improved the remediation ability of forage grass-microbial combinations.