ABSTRACT Lead is an element intensively used by human activities, representing serious risks to food security due to soil contamination, making it essential to implement control strategies to mitigate its harmful effects. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of soil fertilization on the growth and lead accumulation of grasses used in the phytoremediation process. The experiments were conducted in a greenhouse using two soil types: Typic Quartzipsamment and a Xanthic Hapludox. A randomized block design was used in a 2 × 2 × 3 factorial scheme with three replicates, consisting of two soil types, two grasses ( Megathyrsus maximus cultivar “Mombaça” and Urochloa brizantha cultivar “Marandu”), and three levels of Pb contamination: no contamination, low contamination (45 mg kg −1 ), and high contamination (270 mg kg −1 ). The grasses were cultivated for 90 days after thinning, after which both shoot and root parts were collected for dry matter analysis and determination of Pb concentrations. Soil fertilization resulted in higher dry matter production of grasses compared to unfertilized soils, which allowed for the extraction of Pb from the soil into plant structures, increasing Pb accumulation in the grasses. The bioconcentration factor of grasses grown in fertilized soil was lower compared to unfertilized soil. U. brizantha under fertilization conditions showed greater growth even under stress, along with a high Pb accumulation in dry matter, especially in the shoots, indicating its potential as a Pb phytoextractor. On the other hand, M. maximus under fertilization conditions translocated less Pb to the shoots but exhibited a good capacity for soil extraction and root accumulation, demonstrating its potential as an alternative for Pb phytostabilization compared to U. brizantha .
Alves et al. (Sun,) studied this question.