Abstract
Phytoextraction has been reported as an economically and ecologically sound alternative for the remediation of metal-contaminated soils. Willow is a metal phytoextractor of interest because it allows to combine a gradual contaminant removal with production of biomass that can be valorized in different ways. In this work two willow clones growing on a metal-contaminated site were selected: ‘Belgisch Rood’ (BR) with a moderate metal extraction capacity and ‘Tora’ (TO) with a twice as high metal accumulation. All cultivable bacteria associated with both willow clones were isolated and identified using 16SrDNA ARDRA analysis followed by 16SrDNA sequencing. Further all isolated bacteria were investigated for characteristics that might promote plant growth (production of siderophores, organic acids and indol acetic acid) and for their metal resistance. The genotypic and phenotypic characterization of the isolated bacteria showed that the TO endophytic bacterial population is more diverse and contains a higher percentage of metal-resistant plant growth promoting bacteria than the endophytic population associated with BR. We hypothesize that the difference in the metal accumulation capacity between BR and TO clones might be at least partly related to differences in characteristics of their associated bacterial population.
Highlights
Industrial and agricultural activities, together with urbanization and military operations resulted in a pollution of the environment by metals and organic contaminants that is nowadays a problem of global concern
Bacteria were isolated from Belgisch Rood’ (BR) and TO willow clones growing on the metal-contaminated site in Lommel and a comparison of their genotypic and phenotypic characteristics was made
Since the phenotypic characterization tests are only applicable for cultivable bacteria, the bacterial isolation and characterization performed in this work concentrated on the cultivable strains
Summary
Industrial and agricultural activities, together with urbanization and military operations resulted in a pollution of the environment by metals and organic contaminants that is nowadays a problem of global concern. In case of metal contamination, only a few technologies can be applied because of the immutable and rather immobile character of metals (Vangronsveld and Cunningham, 1998) Beside of their high costs, conventional remediation strategies destroy soil structure and biological activity in soils, meaning that, after treatment, they cannot be used for agricultural purposes (Vangronsveld and Cunningham, 1998). For these reasons, the need for inventive, sustainable and at the same time effective remediation technologies for largescale metal-contaminated sites has never been greater
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