Role of microbial inoculation and chitosan in phytoextraction of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd by Elsholtzia splendens – a field case

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of microbial inoculation on heavy metal phytoextraction by Elsholtzia splendens and whether chitosan could have a synergistic effect with the microbial inocula. The microbial inocula consisted of a consortium of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and two Penicillium fungi. Three treatments were included: the control, inoculation with microbial inocula, and the inoculation combined with chitosan. Microbial inoculation increased plant biomass especially shoot dry weight, enhanced shoot Cu, Zn and Pb concentrations but did not affect Cd, leading to higher shoot Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd uptake. Compared with microbial inoculation alone, chitosan application did not affect plant growth but increased shoot Zn, Pb and Cd concentrations except Cu, which led to higher phytoextraction efficiencies and partitioning to shoots of Zn, Pb and Cd. These results indicated synergistic effects between microbial inocula and chitosan on Zn, Pb and Cd phytoextraction.