Response of native grasses and Cicer arietinum to soil polluted with mining wastes: Implications for the management of land adjacent to mine sites

Abstract Mine tailings are an environmental problem in Southern Spain because wind and water erosion of bare surfaces results in the dispersal of toxic metals over nearby urban or agricultural areas. Revegetation with tolerant native species may reduce this risk. We grew two grasses, Lygeum spartum and Piptatherum miliaceum, and the crop species Cicer arietinum (chickpea) under controlled conditions in pots containing a mine tailings mixed into non-polluted soil to give treatments of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% mine tailings. We tested a neutral (pH 7.4) mine tailings which contained high concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn. Water-extractable metal concentrations increased in proportion to the amount of tailings added. The biomass of the two grasses decreased in proportion to the rate of neutral mine-tailing addition, while the biomass of C. arietinum only decreased in relation to the control treatment. Neutron radiography revealed that root development of C. arietinum was perturbed in soil amended with the neutral tailings compared to those of the control treatment, despite a lack of toxicity symptoms in the shoots. In all treatments and for all metals, the plants accumulated higher concentrations in the roots than in shoots. The highest concentrations occurred in the roots of P. miliaceum (2500 mg kg −1 Pb, 146 mg kg −1 Cd, 185 mg kg −1 Cu, 2700 mg kg −1 Zn). C. arietinum seeds had normal concentrations of Zn (70–90 mg kg −1 ) and Cu (6–9 mg kg −1 ). However, the Cd concentration in this species was ∼1 mg kg −1 in the seeds and 14.5 mg kg −1 in shoots. Consumption of these plant species by cattle and wild fauna may present a risk of toxic metals entering the food chain.