Tolerance and phytoremediation potential of Calopogonium mucunoides to boron

摘要

Soil contamination by trace elements (TEs) is a problem of great concern since the industrial revolution. However, not all TEs are essentially toxic, and several micronu-trients such as boron (B) play essential roles during plant development and, in this case, B acts in plants as a structural element. Soil B levels above 3.0 mg dm~(-3) may be toxic to many plants and the greatest input of B to the environment occurs through the anthropic way. An environmentally promising alternative is phytoremediation, in which contaminant-tolerant plants are used to remove or stabilize TEs in soils. Therefore, this work has been carried out to aim C. mucunoides' tolerance to increasing B concentrations and its potential as a phytoremediator. We found out that C. mucunoides tolerates B doses up to 480 mg dm~(-3), the B uptaken is transported at a 1:1 ratio between root and shoot, suggesting that C. mucunoides can be used as a phytostabilizer and phytoex-tractor due to its potential to be used in phytoremediation techniques because it can tolerate toxic concentrations of B.