Soil-agrochemical aspects of remediation of a gray forest soil polluted with Pb upon the application of growth-promoting rhizobacteria

The effect of inoculation with growth-promoting rhizobacteria of the Pseudomonas genus on the growth and elemental composition of barley was examined in pot experiments with an artificially Pb-contaminated gray forest soil. The application of the bacteria to the contaminated soil enhanced the plant growth, increased the yield (including the grain yield) by 1.5 times, and considerably reduced the concentration of Pb in the plants without altering the soil reaction. The maximum effect was found upon the inoculation with the bacterium P. fluorescens 21, which ensures the same yield as that in the unpolluted soil without the application of bacteria and without changes in the grain quality (the protein content and the elemental composition). The positive effect of the bacteria was manifested to the greatest degree at the beginning and in the first half of the growing period and was associated with considerable binding of Pb in the soil compounds extractable with an ammonium acetate buffer solution. The elimination of the toxic effect and weakening of the Pb translocation in the barley plants after the inoculation with bacteria occurred due to the improvement in the mineral nutrition of the plants, the intensification of their barrier functions at the shoot-root and root-soil interfaces, the biological dilution caused by an increase in the plant biomass, and changes in the bioavailability of the metal (probably, under the influence of exometabolites produced by bacteria). The application of bacteria did not affect the removal of Pb from the soil by the plants (the biological remediation of the soil via phytoextraction of the toxicants).