Inoculation of Pinus Halepensis with the Ectomycorrhizal Fungi Scleroderma Helps in Phytoremediation of Soil Polymetallic Pollution

This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Pinus halepensis inoculated with the ectomycorrhizal fungi spores belonging to Scleroderma in phytoremediation of polymetallic soil. Tailings were collected in the Kettara polymetallic abandoned mine in southern Morocco and diluted with sand in the following proportions, 10%, 25%, 50% and 75%. The pots experiment was conducted for six months under greenhouse conditions. The results show that the studied plant reveals a great tolerance even at high proportion of contaminated soil (75%). The average length and biomass of the aerial and root parts of both inoculated and non-inoculated seedlings decreased with the increase of the proportion of the polluted soil. The inoculated seedlings have shown higher length and biomass than non-inoculated seedlings. The symbiotic association between Pinus halepensis and the fungus Scleroderma could be proposed as an ultimate solution for the phytoremediation of polluted soils.