An open-field 3-year-long microplot experiment was set up with three micropropagated lines (SC Blossom, BFT Indiana, and STM Hajdúsági) of giant reed (Arundo donax L.). Plants were grown on a soil cover of a former sewage settling pond located in Debrecen Lovász-Zug, Hungary. Soil cover of the sewage sediment was moderately contaminated with various toxic elements (As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn). The highest total concentration of examined toxic elements in leaves was found in the BFT Indiana line (∑326 mg/kg), while in the SC Blossom and STM Hajdúsági lines, ∑210 mg/kg and ∑182 mg/kg were measured, respectively. The highest Zn concentration (117 mg/kg) was found in the leaves of in BFT Indiana line and was 67% higher than that in SC Blossom and 95% more than in the STM Hajdúsági line. The BFT Indiana leaves showed typical signs of adaptation to heavy metal stress in the case of numerous micromorphometric characteristics. The extent of leaf mesophylls decreased, and the number of bulliform cells and phytoliths, as well as the sclerenchymatous stock, increased. The size of the vascular bundles was reduced. The size of the stomata decreased while the stomatal density increased. It can be concluded that the BFT Indiana line had the best adaptational response to heavy metal stress.
Keywords: Arundo donax; leaf; microanatomy; municipal sewage sediment; potentially toxic elements.