Abstract
Heavy metal contamination of the soil environment has become a major source of concern and has posed serious human health related problems in many developing countries particularly Pakistan. Chemical immobilization of heavy metals can be accomplished by the addition of amendments to reduce contaminant solubility and ultimately uptake by the plants. However, a very scarce information is available on the immobilization of Pb with the application of different Ca, S and P sources (gypsum i.e., gyp, rock phosphate i.e., RP and Di-ammonium phosphate i.e., DAP) on rice grown normal and salt-affected Pb-spiked soils. Therefore, a pot trial was conducted to investigate the uptake, translocation of Pb and chlorophyll contents of rice as influenced by soil applied amendments (gyp, RP and DAP) and their variable amounts in normal and salt-affected Pb-spiked soils. The results showed that the Pb and salinity stress induced decrease in chlorophyll contents of rice were significantly (p <= 0.05) counteracted by the applied gyp, RP and DAP. Application of 7.5 g gyp kg (-1) soil was found the most effective in improving chlorophyll contents, and reducing Pb uptake and translocation both in normal and salt-affected Pb-spiked soils.