Phytoremediation potential of flowering plants in relation to copper under the conditions of a model laboratory experiment

This paper describes the results of studying the phytoremediation potential of flowering plants in relation to copper ions in laboratory experiment conditions. The test crops were tansy-leaved phacelia, white mustard, small-flowered marigolds and a mixture of grasses consisting of red fescue, pasture ryegrass and meadow bluegrass in a ratio of 40%, 50%, 10% respectively. Under experimental conditions copper ions in concentrations of 2 and 10 MPC were introduced into the soil selected from the territory of agricultural lands (leached medium-sized heavy loamy chernozem with a high content of humus, mobile phosphorus and exchangeable potassium and a low content of nitrate nitrogen, gross and mobile forms of copper). It has been found that all the selected crops accumulated copper ions from the soil to varying degrees, which makes them suitable for phytoremediation of agricultural lands planned for organic farming. The ability to accumulate copper ions increases in a row: white mustard < small-flowered marigolds < tansy-leaved phacelia < a mixture of grasses. The maximum effect of phytoremediation of the soil in relation to copper ions has been revealed in the variant with a cereal mixture: the content of copper ions in the soil decreases by 38,8% when applying 2 MPC, by 47,8% when applying 10 MPC.