Abstract: To screen out a series of ideal plants that can effectively remedy
contaminated soils by heavy metals is the main groundwork of phytoremediation
engineering and the first step of its commercial application on a large scale.
In this study, accumulation and endurance of 45 weed species in 16 families
from an agricultural site were in situ examined by using the pot-culture field
experiment, and remediation potential of some weed species with high
accumulation of heavy metals was assayed. The results showed that Solanum
nigrum and Conyza canadensis can not only accumulate high concentration of Cd,
but also strongly endure to single Cd and Cd-Pb-Cu-Zn combined pollution. Thus
the 2 weed species can be regarded as good hyperaccumulators for the
remediation of Cd-contaminated soils. Although there were high Cd-accumulation
in Artemigia selengensis, Znula britannica, Artemigia selengensis and
Cephalanoplos setosum, their biomass was adversely affected due to action of
heavy metals in the soils. If the problem of low endurance to heavy metals can
be solved by a reinforcer, the 4 weed species can be perhaps applied
commercially.
Keywords: weed species, heavy metal, contaminated soil, phytoremediation, hyperaccumulation, endurance
