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- Author or Editor: K. Rajkai-Végh x
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The electrical capacitance method was applied for the examination of living root systems in a pot experiment. The measured root capacitances gave an unambiguous indication of the development of root mass and length. The root capacitances measured using needle and clamp plant electrodes were closely similar when the roots of whole plants were placed in water, while increasing differences were observed with a decrease in soil water saturation. The difference in capacitance between the plant electrodes is outlined by interpreting the action mechanism of the clamp electrode. The capacitance and electrical impedance spectra (30 Hz-1 MHz) were determined for roots in soil, for pieces of roots washed free of soil, and for the soil itself. The root capacitance was smaller than that of the soil and higher than that of root pieces at 1 kHz, while the capacitance of the soil became equal to that of roots in soil at about 2 kHz. This calls attention to the importance of the measuring frequency when determining root capacitance. A capacitor model with two dielectric media is proposed besides Dalton's model in order to interpret the behaviour of root and soil capacitances. However, its validity requires further verification.
A new method is introduced to agricultural practice for measuring the living active root of the plants. The measured root capacitance is interpreted in electro-chemical principles. In addition to the electrochemical interpretation of the measurements we aimed to find a non-wounding electrode instead of the needle plant electrode. Another reason for dealing with the tweezer plant electrode was to decrease the relatively high standard deviation of the root capacitance readings due to the relatively high uncertainty of hitting the xylem with the needle plant electrode. To improve and standardize the contact between the tweezer plant electrode and the stem a high electrical conductivity gel (UNIGEL) was applied on the stem before clipping the tweezers. Experiments for the root capacitance measurements were made in temperature and light controlled climate chambers (Conviron, Canada) in 2 litre plastic pots filled with 4:1 soil:sand mixture and water culture. Comparison of the root capacitances of five-week old sunflower plants measured with the needle and the tweezer plant electrodes proved identical in water culture and capillary water saturated soil. However, the applicability of the tweezer plant electrode needs further study for other plants and environmental conditions. The effect of measurement frequency on root capacitance and resistance with the HP4284A impedance bridge was also studied to see the effectiveness of polarization (Figure 1). From Figure 1 it can be seen that root capacitance decreased at frequencies above 1 kHz, while it increased up to the dielectric constant of water at lower frequencies. An interpretation of measurable root capacitance in the soil-plant system is given using separate measured plant tissue and soil capacitances. We established that root capacitance in the soil-plant system approximates the capacitance of the root tissue. Good correlation was found between root capacitance and the calculated root surface area (RA) for sunflower plants (Figure 2). The GW LCR-814 was found suitable for making root capacitance measurements. Finally, further experimental work is needed to collect information for the more general and extended applicability of the method before it becomes a routine tool in ecological and agricultural practice.
Phytoremediation is an approach designed to extract excessive heavy metals from contaminated soils through plant uptake. Cadmium (Cd) is among the elements most toxic to living organisms. Health hazards associated with the lethal intake of Cd include renal (kidney) damage, anaemia, hypertension and liver damage. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with Indian mustard (Brassica juncea) grown on artificially spiked soil (100 μg Cd g−1) with EDTA (2 mmol kg−1 in 5 split doses), FYM, vermicompost (VC) and microbial inoculants (MI) such as Azotobacter sp. and Pseudomonas sp. The growth of Brassica juncea L. was better in soil amended with FYM or VC as compared to unamended Cd-polluted soil. Growth was slightly suppressed in EDTA-treated soil, whereas it was better after treatment with MI. The application of FYM and VC increased the dry matter yield of Indian mustard either alone or in combination with microbial inoculants, while that of EDTA caused a significant decrease in the biomass of Indian mustard. The application of microbial inoculants increased the dry matter yield of both the roots and shoots, but not significantly, because MI shows greater sensitivity towards cadmium. The maximum cadmium concentration was observed in the EDTA +MI treatment, but Cd uptake was maximum in the VC + MI treatment. The Cd concentration in the shoots increased by 120% in CdEDTA over the Cd100 treatment, followed by CdVC (65%) and CdFYM (42%) in the absence of microbial inoculants. The corresponding values in the presence of MI were 107, 51 and 37%, respectively. A similar trend was also observed in the roots in the order CdEDTA+M > CdVC+M > CdFYM+M>Cd100+M.MI caused an increase in Cd content of 5.5% in the roots and 4.1% in the shoots in the CdEDTA+M treatment compared with the CdEDTA treatment. FYM, VC and EDTA also increased Cd uptake significantly both in the shoots and roots with and without microbial inoculants.The results indicated that Vermicompost in combination with microbial inoculants is the best treatment for the phytoremediation of Cd-contaminated soil by Indian mustard, as revealed by the Cd uptake values in the shoots: CdVC+M (2265.7 μg/pot) followed by CdEDTA+M (2251.2 μg/pot), CdFYM+M (1485.7 μg/pot) and Cd100+M (993.1 μg/pot).
