The accumulation of heavy metals by Sorghum plants cultivated in biochar present

Heavy metal pollution of soil is usually related to human activities. Sites near mining activities or heavy industry are often highly contaminated with toxic metals. Such polluted soil is hardly usable for agricultural purposes because the pollution can be transferred to a food chain. To avoid the spread of contaminants it is possible to use phytoremediation techniques which can immobilize or decrease the pollution. For phytoremediation purposes, it is essential to select an appropriate plant species which should be metal tolerant with high biomass production and known agronomic techniques. The above mentioned conditions include woody plants, grasses, and crop plants. Now the primarily interest concerning biomass crops is focused on energy crop (i.e. Miscanthus giganteus, Salix sp., Populus sp., Zea mays, and Sorghum sp.). Sorghum bicolor is C4 grass widely used as a forage crop. It is the fifth most important cereal in the world. The use of charcoal to improve soil properties is increasingly studied. The work focused primarily on the potential benefit of carbon sequestration in soil, soil improvement, increased crop yield, reduction of nutrient leaching, and removal of organic contaminants.