EDDS and EDTA-enhanced zinc accumulation by solanum nigrum inoculated with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi grown in contaminated soil

The effect of two different chelating agents [EDTA and EDDS ( S, S-ethylenediaminedissucinic acid)] on Zn tissue accumulation in Solanum nigrum L. grown in a naturally contaminated soil was assessed. Under those conditions, the response of the plant to the inoculation with two different isolates of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) – Glomus claroideum and Glomus intraradices – was also studied. Plants grown in the local contaminated soil (Zn levels of 433 mg kg −1) accumulated up to 1191 mg kg −1 of Zn in the roots, 3747 mg kg −1 in the stems and 3409 mg kg −1 in the leaves. S. nigrum plants grown in the same soil spiked with extra Zn (Zn levels of 964 mg kg −1) accumulated up to 4735, 8267 and 7948 mg Zn kg −1 in the leaves, stems and roots, respectively. The addition of EDTA promoted an increase in the concentration of Zn accumulated by S. nigrum of up to 231% in the leaves, 93% in the stems and 81% in the roots, while EDDS application enhanced the accumulation in leaves, stems and roots up to 140, 124 and 104%, respectively. In the stems, the presence of Zn was predominantly detected in the cortex collenchyma cells, the starch sheath and the internal phloem and xylem parenchyma, and the addition of chelating agents did not seem to have an effect on the localisation of accumulation sites. The devise of a chelate-enhanced phytoextraction strategy, using chelating agents and AMF, is discussed.