Rhizosphere is a key environment for eventual entry of contaminants into plants, or for their transformation and degradation. There are also complex interactions between plant, soil environment and soil biota. Rhizosphere is a complex environment where almost every change causes a complex chain reaction between soil, plant and soil microorganisms.
In this specific component of the pedosphere, where the root system is the primary point of contact of the plant with water, hazardous substances and nutrients, differences between free soil and rhizosphere are mainly observed in soil reaction, nutrient content and hazardous substances, in various organic matter fractions, root exudates (content of organic acids, including fatty acids and amino acids) and the activity of microorganisms.
Research on possible entry of contaminants and their metabolites into plants and their further transformation in plant tissues and possible interaction with bioactive substances is carried out on various plants, including so-called hyper-accumulators.
Within the methods used in this research segment we use vessel experiments, model experiments with rhizoboxes, computed tomography (soil structure, root system) and nuclear magnetic resonance (properties of organic matter). Cellular and morphological changes, root lignification - lignin formation in cell walls, changes in fatty acid, amino acid and sterol composition are observed in the roots. These changes are monitored based on WINRhizo image analysis, using fluorescence microscopy, GC-MS and HPLC-MS. At the same time, the content of monitored pollutants and nutrients in rhizospheric soil, root exudates, roots and above-ground parts of plants is determined.
