Cureus | Heavy Metal Uptake by Herbs. IV. Influence of Soil pH on the Content of Heavy Metals in Valeriana officinalis L.
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Research Article

Heavy Metal Uptake by Herbs. IV. Influence of Soil pH on the Content of Heavy Metals in Valeriana officinalis L.

Dorota Adamczyk-Szabela, Justyna Markiewicz, Wojciech M. Wolf

Published: March 21, 2015

DOI: 10.1007/s11270-015-2360-3

License: © The Author(s) 2015 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and the source are credited.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to estimate the influence of soil pH on the uptake of copper, zinc, and manganese by Valeriana officinalis. Preliminary studies involved soil analyses to determine acidity, organic matter content, and copper, zinc, and manganese total and bioavailable forms. The study involved atomic absorption spectrometry to determine the concentration of the elements, and mineral soil of pH = 5.1 was used in the study, as being typical for central Poland. The copper, zinc, and manganese contents were determined in plants grown in soils which had been modified to cover a wide range of pH values 3÷13. The intensity of germination was strongly pH dependent with the highest yield obtained in original, unmodified soil. Surprisingly, high soil alkalinity stimulated copper and manganese uptake while at the same time resulting in a decrease in zinc content.


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Scholarly Impact Quotient™ (SIQ™) is our unique post-publication peer review rating process. SIQ™ assesses article importance and quality by embracing the collective intelligence of the Cureus community-at-large. All registered users are invited to contribute to the SIQ™ of any published article. (Authors cannot rate their own articles.)

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