The usefulness of the rock dust for the remediation of soils contaminated with nickel / Przydatność pyłu kamiennego do remediacji gleb zanieczyszczonych niklem

The purpose of this research was to examine whether the addition of waste rock dust to light soil contaminated with nickel will increase the yields of cultivated plants and reduce their excessive nickel content. The research was conducted in concrete microplots of 1 m² dimension in the complete randomisation system, as a twofactor experiment in four replications. The first factor was the level of soil contamination: (1) Ni₀ - soil with natural Ni content; (2) Ni₁ - 100; (3) Ni₂ - 150 and (4) Ni₃ - 270 mg • kg^-1 of the soil. The second factor was the level of remediation: (1) control without remediation and (2) rock dust at a dose of 3 kg • m^-2. The test results indicate that the use of waste rock dust can improve growth conditions of reed canary grass on the soil contaminated with nickel, in the first year of its cultivation. Addition of rock dust to the soil contaminated with nickel 150 mg • kg^-1 caused an increase in tolerance of reed canary grass to nickel (tolerance index) from 0.55 to 0.77. There was an increase in the yield of biomass of aerial parts and a decrease in the concentration of nickel in plants growing in soils with the addition of dust.