Thirteen-year monitoring of the vegetation growing in the industrial and adjacent areas of an oil refinery showed the prevalence of yellow medick (Medicago falcata L.) over other plant species, including alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). A comparative field study of the two Medicago species established that yellow medick and alfalfa exhibited similar resistance to soil petroleum hydrocarbons and that the pollutant concentration in their rhizosphere was 30% lower than that in the surrounding bulk soil. In laboratory pot experiments, yellow medick reduced the contaminant content by 18% owing to the degradation of the major heavy oil fractions, such as paraffins, naphthenes, and alcohol and benzene tars; and it was more successful than alfalfa. Both species were equally effective in stimulating the total number of soil microorganisms, but the number of hydrocarbon-oxidizing microorganisms, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon degraders, was larger in the root zone of alfalfa. In turn, yellow medick provided a favorable balance of available nitrogen. Both Medicago species equally stimulated the dehydrogenase and peroxidase activities of the soil, and yellow medick increased the activity of soil polyphenol oxidase but reduced the activity of catalase. The root tissue activity of catalase, ascorbate oxidase, and tyrosinase was grater in alfalfa than in yellow medick. The peroxidase activity of plant roots was similar in both species, but nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed some differences in the peroxidase profiles of the root extracts of alfalfa and yellow medick. Overall, this study suggests that the phytoremediation potentials of yellow medick and alfalfa are similar, with some differences.
Keywords: Medicago falcata; Medicago sativa; Oil sludge; Phytoremediation; Plant oxidoreductases; Soil enzymes.