People pose a serious risk by plants contaminated with lead in soil. However, the strength of lead enrichment capacity in root, stem, and leaf of the plant is still controversial. Therefore, a meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the ability of lead enrichment of root, stem, and leaf and the main influencing factors for lead absorption. The results of this study indicated that all parts of plant can significantly accumulate lead. Concentrations of lead followed an order of root > stem > leaf. Alkaline soil was conducive to the absorption of lead. When the lead concentration in the soil was higher than 20 mg/kg, the lead absorption in root was more. Lead is absorbed most in trees and least in Gramineae. It is argued that this study is beneficial to select plants suitable for absorption of lead from polluted soil. This study also can help to clarify the influencing factors for lead enrichment in different parts of the plant.
Keywords: Accumulation; Heavy metals; Lead absorption; Meta-analysis; Plants.
© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.