2026-10-06T08:26:13Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34069761 2026-10-05T14:20:04Z category_8 category_21 category_24 category_39 category_133 portal_87 item_type_3 month_year_10_2026

Bioaccumulation and translocation of rare earth elements in Medicago sativa L. grown in coal fly ash-amended substrates Isaac Douglas (25311996) Manoj Mohanty (25311999) Behrooz Abbasi (6249995) Microbiology Biotechnology Evolutionary Biology Ecology Plant Biology Harvest plant maturity phytoextraction root-shoot partitioning substrate alkalinization A greenhouse pot experiment investigated the bioaccumulation and translocation of Cerium (Ce), Erbium (Er), Europium (Eu), Neodymium (Nd), and Praesodymium (Pr) in Medicago sativa L. grown in a substrate amended with 0, 20, 30, and 40% coal fly ash (CFA, w/w). Bioaccumulation factors (BAF) were highest in the unamended control, indicating that CFA loading reduced uptake efficiency consistent with pH-driven REE immobilization. Shoot REE concentrations exceeded root concentrations for most elements at later growth stages, with Eu dominating accumulation, peaking at 304.44 µg g−1 (shoot + root) under 20% CFA at 120 days. Translocation factors (TF) exceeded 1 for most elements in specific treatments by 180 days, except Eu and Pr, which exceeded 1 across all treatments, with plant maturity emerging as a critical determinant of REE distribution between roots and shoots. CFA amendment stimulated shoot biomass production and increased shoot REE accumulation for all five elements at later growth stages, with the optimal amendment rate shifting between growth stages. These findings suggest that Medicago sativa has meaningful potential for REE accumulation from CFA-amended substrates, particularly for Eu, Nd, and Pr, and that plant maturity and amendment rate should be considered jointly when evaluating phytoextraction strategies in CFA-amended systems. This study provides the first systematic characterization of REE bioaccumulation and translocation dynamics across a geochemically diverse lanthanide suite (Ce, Eu, Nd, Er, and Pr) in Medicago sativa grown in US-sourced coal fly ash-amended substrates across multiple growth stages. We demonstrate that plant maturity and CFA amendment rate jointly influence REE bioaccumulation and distribution between roots and shoots, with plant growth cycle emerging as a critical and previously underappreciated factor in evaluating plant-based multi-element REE accumulation from substrates amended with coal combustion residues. These findings position Medicago sativa as a promising candidate for REE phytoextraction from CFA-amended substrates and contribute new evidence to the narrow existing literature on REE phytoaccumulation in ash-amended plant systems. 2026-10-05T14:20:04Z Dataset Dataset 10.6084/m9.figshare.34069761.v1 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Bioaccumulation_and_translocation_of_rare_earth_elements_in_i_Medicago_sativa_i_L_grown_in_coal_fly_ash-amended_substrates/34069761 CC BY 4.0