Effect of soil artificially polluted with lead on an invasive fallopia x bohemica: A case study from Central Europe

Abstract

The presented study was carried out to estimate the effects of lead on an invasive Fallopia x bohemica. The plant material was hexaploid hybrid, which was collected from riparian habitat of Wrocław (SW Poland) and cultivated under greenhouse conditions. Plants were grown in control pots and in pots with soil artificially polluted with various doses of Pb (50, 100, 200 mg·kg-1) for 98 days. To determine the ability of tested hybrids to grow under stress conditions we tested their morphological characteristics (fresh and dry weight of aboveground parts, fresh and dry weight of underground parts, length of shoots, length and width of leaves, number of leaves). The lead content in the rhizomes was also determined for roots and leaves separately. In the greenhouse experiment, the rhizomes of Fallopia x bohemica regenerated well in the polluted soil. The increase in the concentration of lead in soil did not negatively affect its growth and morphological characteristics. The tested hybrid accumulated lead, mainly in underground parts. The mean Pb content in plants from the soil where 200 mg·kg-1 of Pb was added was more than 20 times higher than in control plants. The results suggest that the invasive Fallopia x bohemica is tolerant to lead pollution, what can facilitate its intensive expansion on anthropogenic soils, where the level of this metal is usually high.