Pinus radiata as a dendro-remediation species against nitrate leaching in the New Zealand primary industrial areas: Current snapshot and prospects

Abstract

Due to increasing intensive agricultural activities, the importance of water quality for drinking is increasing over time. Especially, high concentrations of nitrate (NO3–) can cause severe health problems such as cyanosis in infants. This article reviewed the general plant biochemical responses to NO3– contamination and examined case studies currently used for NO3– removal and phytoremediation of most common tree species and confirmed whether conifer tree species have been conducted for nitrogen pollution research and compiled currently available 117 publications in forest tree species in phytoremediation study. It was explored how intensive agricultural activity can cause nitrate pollution and documented that 89% of the New Zealand’s plantation forests are Pinus radiata species, consisting of 1.63 million hectares and the N uptake potential by P. radiata ranged from 3 to 109 kg ha−1 y−1 based on literature review. Also, it was discussed that if it is necessary to pay attention to the role of Pinus radiata in farmlands and streams to develop novel ideas that can positively affect New Zealand’s environmental policy in the post-Paris Agreement era. I propose to consider choosing and exploiting Pinus radiata for several reasons: (1) to foster Pinus radiata research in nitrogen pollution research, finding new biological functions including the benefits of NO3– removal with conifer tree species; (2) to attract the attention to conduct the study of NO3– toxicity to plants and (3) to improve the attention of agroecosystem resilience based on fast-growing conifer trees’ regulating services. This article aims to re-evaluate our understanding of whether New Zealand’s Pinus radiata can deal with environmental stress conditions similar to more commonly studied fast-growing broad-leaved tree species.