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The research was based on a pot experiment, in which the response of eight species of crops to soil contamination with fluorine was investigated. In parallel, some inactivating substances were tested in terms of their potential use for the neutralization of the harmful influence of fluorine on plants. The response of crops to soil contamination with fluorine was assessed according to the volume of biomass produced by aerial organs and roots as well as their content of N-total, N-protein, and N-NO3 −. The following crops were tested: maize, yellow lupine, winter oilseed rape, spring triticale, narrow-leaf lupine, black radish, phacelia, and lucerne. In most cases, soil pollution with fluorine stimulated the volume of biomass produced by the plants. The exceptions included grain and straw of spring triticale, maize roots, and aerial parts of lucerne, where the volume of harvested biomass was smaller in treatments with fluorine-polluted soil. Among the eight plant species, lucerne was most sensitive to the pollution despite smaller doses of fluorine in treatments with this plant. The other species were more tolerant to elevated concentrations of fluorine in soil. In most of the tested plants, the analyzed organs contained more total nitrogen, especially aerial organs and roots of black radish, grain and straw of spring triticale, and aerial biomass of lucerne. A decrease in the total nitrogen content due to soil contamination with fluorine was detected only in the aerial mass of yellow lupine. With respect to protein nitrogen, its increase in response to fluorine as a soil pollutant was found in grain of spring triticale and roots of black radish, whereas the aerial biomass of winter oilseed rape contained less of this nutrient. Among the analyzed neutralizing substances, lime most effectively alleviated the negative effect of soil pollution with fluorine. The second most effective substance was loam, while charcoal was the least effective in this respect. Our results showed the effect of soil contamination with fluorine on the yield and chemical composition of fluorine depended on the species and organ of a tested plant, on the rate of the xenobotic element and on the substance added to soil in order to neutralize fluorine.

This research reports and analyzes results of a field experiment started in 1984, when hard coal fly ash (HCFA) was added to soil at doses of 0 to 800 Mg·ha -1. During the first years of the experiment, traditional crops were grown in the plots, which in 1992 were converted into permanent grassland. Twenty-nine years after the application of fly ash, soil samples from the 0-20 cm soil layer were collected to determine chemical properties of soil. The results showed an elevated soil reaction, and high contents of available forms of P, K, and Mg, plus mineral forms of nitrogen and high soil organic matter. Under increased ash doses, analysed soils increased the C:N ratio and shares of N-NO 3 and N-NH 4 in total nitrogen content. These results justify that fly ash from combustion of hard coal in a power plant can produce long-term impact on soil, contributing to a certain improvement of its chemical, physical, and biological properties, which stimulate the sequestration of carbon in soil.

283Extensive industrial production causes the emission of a wide variety of contaminants to the environment. Heavy metals are one of the most dangerous of these contaminants. They accumulate in the soil, ground, and bo�om sediment of seas and oceans and have a long-term effect on the biotic factors of the environment. Soil contaminated by heavy metals reduced the quality of the cultivated plants, which o�en limits and sometimes disqualifies the soil from the production of quality food products or animal feed (Frossard 1993, Obata and Umebayashi 1997, Kabata-Pendias and Pendias 2001. When analyzing the quality of plants harvested from fields contaminated with heavy metals, an examination for heavy metals content is carried out and the concentrations of other chemical elements are omi�ed. Cadmium is a very mobile heavy metal in the environment. It is easily taken up by plants and transferred to their particular organs (Kabata-Pendias and Pendias 2001). Cadmium can have a destructive effect on the cell membrane plasma in the roots of sensitive plants, limiting the uptake of water and macro-elements. This effect is determined by the plant species. Obata et al. (1996) claimed that the activity of H + -ATPase in the cell membrane plasma of the roots of papilionaceous plants is significantly lower than in the cucurbitaceous plants, which are quite tolerant to cadmium in the soil. H + -ATPase also participates in the uptake of elements by roots (Serrano 1989). Cadmium has an effect on the components of phospholipides and the cell membrane proteins, other than ATPase, by being toxic to the uptake of elements, and consequently, on root development (Obata and Umebayashi 1997). Research of cadmium effects on the macro-element content in plants is relatively scarce and the mechanism of its effect on uptake of macro-elements has not yet been sufficiently explained.The aim of the experiment was to determine the effect of cadmium on the nitrogen uptake by plants. Moreover, the correlations between the nitrogen content in plants and the cadmium concentration in soil, plant yield and the content of macro-and microelements in the plants were determined. MATERIAL AND METHODSTo investigate this mechanism, five pot experiments were carried out in a vegetation hall. ABSTRACTThe aim of this study was to determine the effect of cadmium (10, 20, 30 and 40 mg Cd/kg of soil) contamination in soil with the application of different substances (compost, brown coal, lime and bentonite) on the intake of nitrogen by some plants. The correlations between the nitrogen content in the plants and the cadmium concentration in the soil, as well as the plant yield and the content of micro-and macroelements in the plants were determined. Plant species and cadmium dose determined the effects of soil contamination with cadmium on the content of nitrogen. Large doses of cadmium caused an increase in nitrogen content in the Avena sativa straw and roots and in the Zea mays roots. Soil contamination with cadmium resulted in a decrease of nitrogen content in t...

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