heavy metals

phytoremediation

municipal sewage sludge

green waste compost

lawn mixture

Plants

Heavy metals contamination of plants

During a six-year study on the influence of sewage sludge and green waste compost (in a dose of 20 Mg TS∙ha^-1) on yielding and heavy metals accumulation, Festuca arundinacea lawn mixture was used, consisting of 60% Festuca arundinacea of type Asterix + 15% Poa pratensis of type Opal + 15% Festuca rubra of type Areta + 10% Lolium perenne of type Pimperal. The subject of the study was the effect of these materials on yielding, changes in species composition of the sward, and the contents of copper, nickel, lead, and zinc in the aboveground parts of plants. The materials varied according to the fertilizing value and heavy metals content. Sewage sludge was rich in fertilizing components but also highly contaminated with heavy metals. Green waste compost contained large amounts of sand and the content of metals was slightly higher than in the subsoil to which it had been incorporated. The studied materials were found to have a stimulative effect on yielding plants. Yields obtained under the influence of sewage sludge and compost were similar. Changes in the species composition of the sward were connected to the durability of particular grass species used in the mixture. Despite the varied loads of heavy metals that were incorporated into soil with the used materials, they did not cause any significant increase of metals content in substratum, with the exclusion of copper incorporated into soil with sludge. Loads of metals incorporated into soil with sludge caused a significant increase of nickel and zinc in the aboveground parts of grass compared to the content of these metals in other variants of the experiment. The study found varied levels of metals uptake from soil by plants. The substratum with metals-contaminated sewage sludge demonstrated the highest uptake.