Soil solution Zn and pH dynamics in non-rhizosphere soil and in the rhizosphere of Thlaspi caerulescens grown in a Zn/Cd-contaminated soil

Temporal changes in soil solution properties and metal speciation were studied in non-rhizosphere soil and in the rhizosphere of the hyperaccumulator Thlaspi caerulescens J. & C. Presl (population from Prayon, Belgium) grown in a Zn- and Cd-contaminated soil. This paper focuses on soil solution Zn and pH dynamics during phytoextraction. The concentration of Zn in both non-rhizosphere and rhizosphere soil solutions decreased from 23 mg/l at the beginning to 2 mg/l at the end of the experiment (84 days after transplanting of seedlings), mainly due to chemical sorption. There was no significant difference in overall Zn concentration between the planted and the unplanted soil solutions (P > 0.05). Soil solution pH decreased initially and then increased slightly in both planted and unplanted soil zones. From 60 to 84 days after transplanting, the pH of the rhizosphere soil solution was higher than that of non-rhizosphere soil solution (P < 0.05). Zn uptake by the hyperaccumulator plants was 8.8 mg per pot (each containing 1 kg oven-dry soil) on average. The data indicate that the potential of T. caerulescens to remove Zn from contaminated soil may not be related to acidification of the rhizosphere.