Suitable doses and forms of mineral fertilizers play a significant role in soil-less reclamation of mining wastes. It concerns especially nitrogen, because in this case its mineral and organic forms play a definite role. The relationship between each form is affected by a petrographic and mineral composition, weathering processes of waste material on the waste heaps, and also chemical composition and relationship between the main components, such as calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium. Very important are also tree and shrub species introduced on the heaps, as different species can be characterized by individual nutrient requirements. The investigations showed that the period of first 2-3 years determines the success of interventions in biological reclamation. This refers mostly to nitrogen. Phosphoric fertilization plays an important role in later period, while potassium fertilization is not necessary, because waste material contains considerable quantities of total, and also of exchangeable and dissolvable in water potassium.

The phytoremediation effectiveness of heavy metals contaminated soils in the area of Upper Silesia was assessed on the basis of its real quantity in biomass harvest per 1 ha. The content of each heavy metal was compared with its quantity in the fraction of mobile and total value in horizon till 20 cm depth. The content of Zn uptake in carrot or parsley harvest (leaves and root) did not exceed 2.5% of its quantity in mobile fraction and 0.05% of its total content. The Cd and Pb values amount: 2.41%, 0.1% and 1.47%, 0.01 6%, respectively.

The effects of using three different biopreparations (one natural N2 and two commercial Kl and K2) in petroleum hydrocarbons age-polluted clay soil were studied. The samples of soil were taken from refinery in Czechowice-Dziedzice and classified as heavily degraded in proportion C:N = 100:0,7. Changes after introducing biopreparations into soil (bioaugmentation), their influence on microflora development and effects of removing polluting substances were studied. Bioaugmentation did not result in intensive growth of bacterial number, which was on the control sample's level during experiment. Soil's biodegradation activity also increased in level smaller than expected.

Heavy metal contamination often accompanies pollution with petroleum oil derivatives. Metal ions may considerably affect the process of hydrocarbon biodegradation. The results obtained for bacterial strains Gordon ia a/kanivorans S7 and Pseudom on as fluorescens SL3 indicated the limitation of cell growth and reduced ability of degradation of petroleum oil hydrocarbons in the presence ferric ions in the range of 15-100 mg Fe/dm3. However, the addition of these ions in the range of 1-7 mg Fe/dm3 might appear to be advantageous for biodegradation process. Supplementation with ferric ions in the range of 50-100 mg Fe/dm' decreases emulsifying activity of tested strains. The excess of these ions is accumulated in the bacterial cells.

A significant effect of soil pollution levels on yielding of Jerusalem artichoke was determined. Depending on the treatment, the decrease in the yield ranged between 6.62% and 88.74% in comparison with the control. High soil concentrations of Cd, Pb, Ni, Cu and Zn are confirmed by their contents in the test plant. The contents in Jerusalem was increasing with the level of soil pollution with heavy metals and ranged between 0.65-29.69 mg Cd; 1.40-7.32 mg Pb; 1.76-57.61 mg Ni; 1.65-9.23 mg Cu; 25.04-691.35 mg Zn/kg soil d.m. The smallest diversification of the studied metals contents was registered for lead and copper. A comparison of heavy metal per cent utilisation by Jerusalem reveals that it is possible to arrange the elements in the following order beginning from the highest values: Cd, Zn, Ni, Cu and Pb. The order shows that Jerusalem utilised Cd to the greatest extent and Pb to the smallest. The obtained results allow for a conclusion that Jerusalem artichoke could be utilised for reclamation of soils contaminated with heavy metals.

Many techniques of soil bioremediation enhancement have been developed recently. Two of them are application of weak electric field which induces favorable electrokinetic phenomena in the soil environment and surface active agents application which increase the biodegradation degree of poorly soluble contamination. During experiments the influence of the electric field and surfactants (biosurfactants, non-ionic and anionic surfactants) on the Pseudomonas putida and Bacillus subtilis bacteria migration in soil was determined. The intensity of the biodegradation of contamination was also estimated. The results show substantial impact of the electric field and surfactants on the intensity and direction of bacteria migration in soil as well as on the intensity of the contamination biodegradation.

The method of solid-phase extraction on TENAX TA beads was applied in order to assess the content of potentially bioavailable PAH fractions in soils highly contaminated with these compounds. The extraction was carried out at 20°C and 60°C to enable separation of two fractions: ,,easily bioavailable" and ,.hardly bioavailable", correspondingly. The data obtained indicated a relatively low content of potentially bioavailable PAHs in soils with 4 and 5+6-ringed compounds as dominant groups.