Award details

Trace element dynamics in soils and plant uptake

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004960
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Fangjie Zhao
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	594,226
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2008
End date	31/03/2012
Duration	48 months

Abstract

Supplying micronutrients to plants is a vital function of soil. Trace elements such as Fe, Zn and Se are essential for human nutrition and deficiency of these elements is widespread in humans, particularly in developing countries. There is evidence from the Rothamsted Classical Experiments that the concentrations of essential trace elements in cereal grain have decreased significantly as a result of increased yield over the last four decades. Other trace elements such as As and Cd are non-essential and toxic. Soil may be contaminated with toxic trace elements from either geogenic or anthropogenic sources, resulting in increased transfer to food crops, which causes a serious concern for food safety. In contrast, some plant species or ecotypes possess unusual abilities to hyperaccumulate trace elements. These plants have potential for phytoremediation of contaminated soils and are also interesting models for studying trace element uptake. Trace elements are present in different chemical forms in soil depending on soil conditions. Soil factors and soil-plant interactions play a crucial role in determining the bioavailability of trace elements and their uptake by plants. Our hypothesis is that soil-plant interactions influence trace element speciation in the rhizosphere, which controls the bioavailability of trace elements to plants. The objectives of this project are: 1) to quantify the dynamics of different chemical species of trace elements in soil using techniques such as HPLC-ICP-MS and synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption spectrometry in order to understand their bioavailability to plant uptake; 2) to investigate how plants modify trace element speciation in the rhizosphere; and 3) to characterise the uptake, efflux and accumulation of trace elements in both crop plants and hyperaccumulators in different soils and environmental conditions.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	Crop Science, Plant Science, Soil Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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