HEAVY METAL UPTAKE PATTERNS BY SPINACH (Spinacia oleracea L.) GROWN ON CONTAMINATED DIFFERENT SOIL TYPES

Heavy metals have different behaviour on crop plants, depending on several factors such as metal type, the quantity and mixture of metals in soil and soil type. Both pedological and agrochemical soil characteristics can influence heavy metals mobility and bioavailability, with notable consequences on plant growth. This study follows the accumulation of heavy metals and growth of spinach plants (Spinacia oleracea L.) on three different soil types (chernozem, fluvisol, chromic luvisol-acc. WRB-SR, 1998), each soil type having six variants (1 untreated soil + 5 contaminated soils) with different concentrations of heavy metals. The contaminations were made with five mixtures of heavy metals (Cd, Pb, Ni, Co, Cu and Zn) in quantities ranging near reference values to values that exceeds intervention threshold for sensitive soils, according to Ord. 756/1997 (Cd from 3 to 20 ppm, Pb from 30 to 150 ppm, Ni from 25 to 200 ppm, Co from 20 to 100 ppm, Cu from 20 to 200 ppm and Zn from 100 to 700 ppm). Soil and plant analysis for heavy metals determination were made using ICP-MS technique. The experimental results showed a significant difference on growth parameters of spinach plant and on heavy metals bioaccumulation between untreated and high contaminated soils variants, and between soil types, respectively.