Study of element uptake in plants from the soil to assess environmental contamination by toxic elements

Uptake of various elements by plants through the root system from the soil was studied. Vegetation experiments with cotton and white beet were carried out in the control and test fields. The test fields were enriched with phyto-bacterial strains capable of dissolving insoluble phosphate compounds. Analytical work involved analysis of blank, control and test soil samples and analysis of plants sampled in different growing periods: periods of first sprouts, florescence and ripening of the plants. Multielement analyses of soil and plant samples were carried out by instrumental neutron activation techniques using our WWR-SM research reactor. Results of the measurements have shown that macro- and microelement composition of the analyzed soil samples were consistent to clark contents except for copper. Our experiments have resulted that the concentration levels of copper in the soils were within 300–450 mg/kg, and its average concentration in cotton leaves was about ∼35 mg/kg while in beet leaves it reached up to 500 mg/kg and higher in different growing stages. A high mobility of strontium and barium was observed for cotton as well as for white beet within the period of growing and florescence.