The Effect of Heavy Metal Contaminated Soil on Growth and Development of Perennial Grasses

Abstract. Contamination of agricultural land in Poland by heavy metals is not a general problem but is limited to industrial areas. In regions of long history of industrial emission, of elevated levels of lead, cadmium, zinc and other ions during coal and ore mining and processing, as for example in Silesia, about 10 % of agricultural land may be characterized by exceeded maximum residue limits for Cd, Pb, Cu, Ni and Zn ions. Since the maintenance of agricultural areas in those regions is important from an ecological standpoint, the alternative farming activities are needed. Perennial grass biomass production for energy purposes is currently the best solution for majority of agricultural areas not suitable for food production in Poland. Along with increasing knowledge on separation and utilization of heavy metals (HM) during and after biomass processing, phytoremediation of polluted soils will become important and valuable. To detect the effect of soil HM ions concentration on growth and development of selected, tall growing and high biomass yielding perennial grass cultivars, the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters were registered. The elevated content of Pb, Cd and Zn ions in soil influenced on decrease of: minimal (Fo), maximal (Fm) and variable (Fv) fluorescence level as well as on total complementary area on a diagram of chlorophyll a fluorescence induction curve (Area). Based o