Assessment of organic compost and biochar in promoting phytoremediation of crude-oil contaminated soil using Calendula officinalis in the Loess Plateau, China

The Loess Plateau, located in Gansu Province, is an important energy base in China because most of the oil and gas resources are distributed in Gansu Province. In the last 40 a, ecological environment in this region has been extremely destroyed due to the over-exploitation of crude-oil resources. Remediation of crude-oil contaminated soil in this area remains to be a challenging task. In this study, in order to elucidate the effects of organic compost and biochar on phytoremediation of crude-oil contaminated soil (20 g/kg) by Calendula officinalis L., we designed five treatments, i.e., natural attenuation (CK), planted C. officinalis only (P), planted C. officinalis with biochar amendment (PB), planted C. officinalis with organic compost amendment (PC), and planted C. officinalis with co-amendment of biochar and organic compost (PBC). After 152 d of cultivation, total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) removal rates of CK, P, PB, PC and PBC were 6.36%, 50.08%, 39.58%, 73.10% and 59.87%, respectively. Shoot and root dry weights of C. officinalis significantly increased by 172.31% and 80.96% under PC and 311.61% and 145.43% under PBC, respectively as compared with P (P<0.05). Total chlorophyll contents in leaves of C. officinalis under P, PC and PBC significantly increased by 77.36%, 125.50% and 79.80%, respectively (P<0.05) as compared with PB. Physical-chemical characteristics and enzymatic activity of soil in different treatments were also assessed. The highest total N, total P, available N, available P and SOM occurred in PC, followed by PBC (P<0.05). C. officinalis rhizospheric soil dehydrogenase (DHA) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities in PB were lower than those of other treatments (P<0.05). The values of ACE (abundance-based coverage estimators) and Chao indices for rhizospheric bacteria were the highest under PC followed by PBC, P, PB and CK (P<0.05). However, the Shannon index for bacteria was the highest under PC and PBC, followed by P, PB and CK (P<0.05). In terms of soil microbial community composition, Proteiniphilum, Immundisolibacteraceae and Solimonadaceae were relatively more abundant under PC and PBC. Relative abundances of Pseudallescheria, Ochroconis, Fusarium, Sarocladium, Podospora, Apodus, Pyrenochaetopsis and Schizpthecium under PC and PBC were higher, while relative abundances of Gliomastix, Aspergillus and Alternaria were lower under PC and PBC. As per the nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) analysis, application of organic compost significantly promoted soil N and P contents, shoot length, root vitality, chlorophyll ratio, total chlorophyll, abundance and diversity of rhizospheric soil microbial community in C. officinalis. A high pH value and lower soil N and P contents induced by biochar, altered C. officinalis rhizospheric soil microbial community composition, which might have restrained its phytoremediation efficiency. The results suggest that organic compost-assisted C. officinalis phytoremediation for crude-oil contaminated soil was highly effective in the Loess Plateau, China.