Plantation in roadside soil enhances the aesthetics, plays a significant role in improving the roadside environment, and even serves as a buffer zone. However, recent research has shown that heavy metals emitted from road vehicles are being carried in...
Plantation in roadside soil enhances the aesthetics, plays a significant role in improving the roadside environment, and even serves as a buffer zone. However, recent research has shown that heavy metals emitted from road vehicles are being carried into roadside soil. Heavy metals entering the soil can have significant health effects on humans and inhibit plant growth performance. Furthermore, roadside soils are often unfavorable to plant growth due to high pH and physical compaction.
Recent revisions to the Act on the creation and furtherance of arboretums and gardens introduced mandatory planting of native plants. This has made planting native plants in roadside soils mandatory. However, research on Korean native plants with excellent adaptability to roadside soil conditions remains limited.
Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the heavy metals absorption capacity and applicability of native plants suitable for Korean soils in roadside environments. In this study, we conducted experiments on native species such as Carex pumila Thunb., Carex blepharicarpa Franch., Arundinella hirta var. ciliata (Thunb.) Koidz., Pennisetum alopecuroides (L.) Spreng. ‘Bonfire’, exotic species such as Carex oshimensis ‘Evergold’ and Calamagrostis brachytricha. These six plants were planted in heavy metals-contaminated soil and roadside soil to select those with superior heavy metals uptake capacity and applicability in roadside environments. In each pot experiment, changes in available heavy metals content in the soil, aboveground and underground plant biomass, elongation, heavy metals content in the plants, and a plant stress factor were analyzed. The bioaccumulation factor and translocation factor, and the amount of heavy metals uptake by each plant were then calculated.
The experimental results showed that in both heavy metals-contaminated soil and roadside soil, soil pH decreased due to organic acids excreted from plant roots, and this lower pH increased the availability of heavy metals in plant-available forms. In heavy metals-contaminated soils, plant heavy metals contents tended to be high in Cyperaceae, but A. hitra, a native Korean gramineae plant, showed the highest uptake for all heavy metals. Growth rates and aboveground biomass in roadside soils were also statistically significantly higher for A. hitra. Lipid peroxide analysis in heavy metals-contaminated soils revealed that A. hitra had the second-lowest values, confirming its lower level of heavy metals stress compared to other plants.
Therefore, A. hitra, with its superior heavy metals uptake and biomass, is considered a viable candidate for introduction into roadside soils with potential heavy metals contamination. High biomass is associated not only with heavy metals uptake but also with enhanced growth in harsh environments such as roadside soils. Therefore, further research is needed to identify ways to enhance the growth of A. hitra when applying it to roadside soils.