THE DYNAMICS OF PIGMENT ACCUMULATION IN LEAVES OF BETULA PENDULA ROTH. IN A MINING ROCK DUMP
The rock dumps arising from surface mining have their features in terms of environmental conditions. Silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) is the most suitable tree for phytomelioration under the conditions of the rock dumps of Kuzbass due to its high seed activity and low requirement to soil fertility. The qualitative and quantitative composition of the pigment system serves as a diagnostic sign of the state of woody plants under adverse environmental conditions. The content of pigments is an indicator of potential photosynthetic ability of plants and an indicator of the general state of the plant organism. The content of photosynthetic pigments in leaves of B. pendula was determined by spectophotometery and calculated using the formulae of MacKinney and Wettstein. The data on the accumulation of photosynthetic pigments in leaves of B. pendula in a rock dump “Yuzhnyiy” of the “Kedrovskiy” surface coal mine is presented. The studied plant samples revealed higher concentration of chlorophyll a and total chlorophylls as compared to chlorophyll b and total carotenoids. The content of green pigment in plant assimilation system exceeded the amount of yellow pigments 2.5 times on average. The maximum values of chlorophylls and carotenoids in the leaves of B. pendula were revealed in July; the values decreased in August. The experimental data may be used for the evaluation of woody plants and as an informative parameter for phytoindication in landscaping.