An arsenic hyperaccumulator Pteris vittata L. (Chinese brake) was first discovered in China by means of field survey and greenhouse cultivation. Field survey showed that Chinese brake had large accumulating capacity to arsenic; the orders of arsenic content in different parts of the fern were as follows: leaves>leafstalks>roots, which is totally different from that of ordinary plants; bioaccumulation coefficients of the above ground parts of the fern decreased as a power function of soil arsenic contents. In the control of pot trials with normal unpolluted soil containing 9mg/kg of arsenic, the bioaccumulation coefficients of the above ground parts and rhizoids of Chinese brake were as high as 71 and 80 respectively. Greenhouse cultivation in the contaminated soil from mining areas has shown that more than 1 times greater arsenic can be accumulated in the leaves of the fern than that of field samples with the largest content of 5070 mg/kg As on a dry matter basis. During greenhouse cultivation, arsenic
Tongbin ChenChaoyang WeiZechun HuangQifei HuangQuanguo LuZilian Fan
Pot experiment was conducted to understand the effect of phosphorus on arsenic accumulation in As-hyperaccumulator Chinese brake (Pteris vittata L.). It is shown that arsenic concentrations in the fronds and rhizoids, the arsenic bioaccumulation factor, and the total arsenic in the fronds were not influenced significantly under low levels of phosphorus (≤400 mg/kg) and increased sharply under high levels of phosphorus (>400 mg/ kg). The discovery implies that the efficiency of arsenic removal in phytoremedia-tion using the hyperaccumulating plant can be greatly elevated by the phosphorus addition at high rates. The interaction between the accumulation of phosphorus and that of arsenic in plant was stimulated mutually. The result represents that Chinese brake is a good material for plant physiologist to conduct comparative and mechanism studies on the uptake behaviors of phosphorus and arsenic, and phosphorus is also a potential accelerator for phytoremediation of arsenic-contaminated soils.
