One of the great challenges in environmental research today is to find tolerant species of plants and microsymbionts to make viable the revegetation of contaminated areas with heavy metals. This experiment was carried out under greenhouse conditions at the Soil Science Department of the Federal University of Lavras (MG), from August to December 1998, to assess the tolerance to heavy metals and the capacity to establish rhizobia symbiosis with Enterolobium contortisiliquum (tamboril), Acacia mangium (acacia) and Sesbania virgata (sesbânia) in […]

Procedures based on modifications of chemical properties are potentially useful for mitigating phytotoxicity of heavy metals in soils. However, it is difficult to predict the effects of different ameliorating agents on the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil simultaneously contaminated with several metals. This study was developed in a soil from a dumping site of a zinc extraction and manufacturing industry-Companhia Mineira de Metais-CMM, located at Três Marias (MG), to assess content, fractioning and bioavailability of Zn, Cd, Cu and […]

The excess of heavy metals contaminating soils is responsible for a negative impact on microorganisms and toxicity on plants, hence turning revegetation and rehabilitation of areas degraded by these metals very difficult. In the present study, the effects of the isoflavonoid formononetin (7 hydroxy 4’methoxy isoflavona) on growth and metal uptake by corn (Zea mays L.) were studied in soil-mixes with increasing proportions of a contaminated soil with 16.904; 194; 219 and 836 mg dm-3 of soil of Zn, Cd, […]

The adverse effects of the heavy metals on all living forms make rehabilitation of heavy metal-contaminated soils very difficult. In this paper, the effects of seedling inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on post-transplant growth and metal uptake of five woody species: (Senna multijuga (L.C. Rich.) Irwin et Barneby (cássia verrugosa), Luehea grandiflora Mart. et Zucc. (açoita-cavalo), Enterolobium contortisiliquum (Vell.) Morong (tamboril), Albizia lebbeck (L.) Benth. (albizia) and Senna macranthera (Collard.) Irwin et Barneby (fedegoso)) in soil mixes containing increasing […]

Although widely reported, studies on chemical forms and concentrations of heavy metals in polluted soils and their effects upon ecosystems are still not much emphasized in the tropics. The present study was developed in a waste area of a zinc processing industry owned by the Companhia Mineira de Metais-CMM at Três Marias (MG), Brazil, to evaluate heavy metal quantities and forms in seven representative sites, selected according to differences in form of contamination, pedological aspects, topography and current vegetation status. […]

Mining and metallurgical activities are responsible for pollution of extensive soil areas around the world, with their effects not being well known under Brazilian conditions. Total and water soluble contents of heavy metals and microbial density and activity were evaluated, in this 1996 study using samples from seven sites located in a dumping site of a zinc industry in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Additionally, a non-contaminated site was used as reference. All contaminated sites presented high total and […]