Effects of Potassium and Sodium Bromides on Triticum aestivum and Pisum sativum.

Different bromine compounds have found numerous applications. Nevertheless, there is still insufficient information about environmental chemistry of this trace element. In our research, a greenhouse pot experiment was carried out with the following aims: (1) to study the response of wheat and pea seedlings to an increase of concentrations two bromides (KBr and NaBr) in soil, (2) to assess the influence of root exudates of the two plant species on uptake of Br and some other macro- and trace elements when wheat and pea grow close to each other or far apart, and (3) to estimate possible allelopathic effects on the uptake of different elements by plants and also on the concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in uncontaminated soil and in the soil contaminated by bromides. Both plant species were capable of accumulating large amounts of bromine. The concentration of bromine in roots of pea was higher than in wheat roots, and was always higher in leaves of wheat than in leaves of pea. More bromine was accumulated in roots of wheat and pea seedlings growing separately than in roots of the seedlings grown close to each other. Growth of wheat and pea seedlings in uncontaminated and spiked with bromides soils resulted in decrease of the concentrations of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the rhizosphere soil of the plants. The variations depended on the plant species and were different when the plants were grown close to each other and separately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]