© 2004 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Gas exchange and foliage characteristics of two poplar clones grown in soil amended with industrial waste
Roberto Tognetti (1, 2), Luca Sebastiani (3) and Antonio Minnocci (3)
1. Dipartimento di Scienze Animali, Vegetali e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi del Molise, Via De Sanctis, I-86100 Campobasso,
Italy / 2. Author to whom correspondence should be addressed (tognetti@unimol.it) / 3. Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Studi Universitari e Perfezionamento, P. zza Martiri della Libertà 33, I-56127 Pisa, Italy / Received October 24, 2002; accepted March 8, 2003; published online December 1, 2003
Summary
Plants can remove or immobilize various environmental contaminants; however, little is known about the physiological mechanisms
underlying responses to soil amendment with biosolids contaminated with heavy metals. We investigated the responses of cuttings
of hybrid poplar clones Eridano and I-214 grown for a season in soil amended with nutrient-rich organic material from tanneries,
which contains potentially toxic amounts of heavy elements. Plant growth traits, gas exchange parameters, stomatal density
and leaf layer thickness of frozen-hydrated leaves, and foliar concentrations of heavy metals and nitrogen were determined.
Overall, soil amendment increased net assimilation rate and growth, but the cuttings accumulated only small quantities of
heavy metal soil contaminants.
Keywords:
biomass, heavy metals, leaf thickness, Populus, stomata.
