Phytostabilization, Toxic Effect, Metal Tolerant Plant Species, Airborne, Agrostis Tenuis, Goginan

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	Phytostabilization. Soils polluted with heavy metals lack vegetation cover due to toxic effects of pollutants and other physical disturbances. Re-vegetation with metal tolerant plant species of such sites provides a solution to this problem by stabilization of these metal contaminants on these sites. This is achieved by reducing the mobility of heavy metals, thus reducing the risk of their leaching in ground water or airborne spread.
This strategy has been successfully used both in UK and USA. For instance, following three cultivars belonging to three grass species have been used to provide an excellent cover on contaminated sites : (i) Agrostis tenuis, cv Goginan for acid, lead and zinc wastes, (ii) Festuca rubra cv. Merlin for calcarious lead/zinc wastes and (iii) Agrostis tenuis, cv Parys for copper wastes. In USA (Palmerson, PA), efforts were made to stabilize Cd and Zn contaminated soils with the help of metal tolerant grasses. Processes involved in the Phytostabilization of Contaminated Soils