www.pelagiaresearchlibrary.com t le online a Availab Pelagia Research Library European Journal of Experimental Biology, 2013, 3(6):7-13 ISSN: 2248 –9215 CODEN (USA): EJEBAU 7 Pelagia Research Library Soil amendments to enhance lead uptake by Eucalyptus camaldeulensis cultivated on metal contaminated soil Khaled Sallami 1 , Stephen J. Coupe 2 , Jess Rollason 3 and Eshmaiel Ganjian 2 1 Faculty of Business Environment and Society, Coventry University, England, United Kingdom 2 Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building, Faculty of Engineering and Computing, Sir John Laing Building, Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, England, United Kingdom 3 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University, England, United Kingdom _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT The use of plant to remove heavy metals from soil (phytoremediation) is expanding due to its cost-effectiveness as compared to conventional methods and it has revealed great possible potential. Since contaminants such as Pb have a limited bioavailability in the soil, methods to facilitate their transport to the shoots and roots of plant are required for successful phytoremediation. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects adding of different rates of EDTA at concentrated (0, 5, 10 and 15 mmol/kg), (0, 5, 10, and 25%) of compost, (0, 25, 50, and 100%) of Hoagland solution, bacterial inoculums, and mixtures of 5% EDTA, 5% compost, 100 Hogaland solution, and bacterial inoculums of an amendment on Pb availability in soil, and plant biomass. The phytoextraction ability was assessed in terms of its metal transfer factors; bioconcentration factor (BF) and translocation factor (TF). Experimental results showed that the higher concentrations of available Pb (12.6 ± 0.47, 17.6 ± 0.68, 13.1 ± 0.27, 15.4 ± 0.66, and 17.2 ± 0.98 mg kg -1 ) were obtained from soil amended with 25% compost, 15 mmol EDTA, 100% Hoagland solution, Bacterial inoculums, and mixed amendments (5% composite, 5 mmol EDTA, 100% Hoagland solution and bacterial inoculums), respectively. Application of mixed amendments increased the fresh and dry weights of shoot and root of E. camaldeulensis cultivated on Pb contaminated soil. The highest accumulation of Pb (585±4.5 and 1073±7.6 mg kg -1 DW) in plant shoot and root, respectively, were obtained by plant cultivated in soil inoculated with Alcaligenes eutrophus. Based on the BCF and TF values, E. camaldeulensis can be utilized as a good candidate for Pb stabilization in soil. Keywords: Phytoremediation, Pb-uptake, E. camaldeulensis, soil amendments _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Heavy metal contamination in soils is one of the world’s major environmental problems, posing significant risks to human health as well as to ecosystems. Therefore, the development of a remediation strategy for metal-contaminated soils is necessary for environmental conservation and human health. Phytoremediation, using plants to remove metal pollutants from contaminated soils, is being developed as a new method for the remediation of contaminated land[7 ,12,1]. Heavy metals in soils are generally bound to organic and inorganic soil constituents, or alternatively, present as insoluble precipitates. A large proportion of metal contaminants are unavailable for root uptake by field grown plants. Methods of increasing heavy metal contaminant phytoavailability in soil and its transport to plant roots are vital to the success of phytoremediation[10 ,2,15]. Microbial populations are known to affect trace metal mobility and availability to the plant, through release of chelators, acidification, and redox changes [26, 4]. The presence of rhizosphere bacteria has been reported to