Approximately 200 million m³ of sediments are dredged every year in the United States. Of this amount, 2.3–9 million m³ are contaminated to the extent that they require special, and often costly, handling. Therefore, there is a pressing need to develop appropriate technology for the safe utilization of these sediments, especially in the case of the Hudson River, which is well known to demonstrate significant polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) contamination. Hence, the aim of the present study was to examine the influence of different doses of Hudson River sediments (10%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% admixtures) on soil quality and on the biochemical and growth response of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L. cv ‘Wisconsin SMR 58’), used as potential phytoremediation tool for sediment-borne PCBs. A sediment/soil admixture was found to significantly decrease the nitrogen (N) content in the substratum; in addition, phosphorus (P) content was significantly increased by 50–100% sediment, while potassium (K) content was significantly increased by 10% sediment, and significantly decreased by >50% sediment. Although sediment treatment resulted in a gradual increase in PCB content in the soil-sediment substratum, exceeding the threshold effect concentration (TEC) for the ≥50% sediment admixture, the Microtox assay did not suggest toxicity to microorganisms. The results demonstrated also that admixture of 10–25% Hudson River sediment increased cucumber growth; however, higher doses led to growth inhibition, manifested as lower biomass and smaller leaves. Also, chlorophyll a and b content decreased with increasing doses of sediment. Phenylpropanoid and flavonol contents were significantly higher in plants grown in soil amended with 10% of sediment, but significantly lower in soil treated with a 100% sediment admixture. The anthocyanin content in plants was lower at admixtures of 50% and higher. The obtained results corresponded with the decreasing content of N and K.

大约2亿米³沉积物每年都疏浚在美国。这一数额中，2.3-9万立方米³被污染到他们需要特殊的程度，并且通常是昂贵的，处理。因此，迫切需要开发适当的技术来安全地利用这些沉积物，特别是在哈德逊河的情况下，众所周知，哈德逊河已证明会严重污染多氯联苯（PCBs）。因此，本研究的目的是检验不同剂量的哈德逊河沉积物（10％，25％，50％，75％和100％的掺合物）对土壤质量以及黄瓜生化和生长响应的影响（黄瓜L. cv“威斯康星州SMR 58”），用作沉积物传播的多氯联苯的潜在植物修复工具。发现沉积物/土壤混合物显着降低了基质中的氮（N）含量。此外，磷（P）含量显着增加了50-100％的沉积物，钾（K）含量显着增加了10％的沉积物，而磷含量却显着降低了> 50％的沉积物。尽管沉积物处理导致土壤-沉积物基质中PCB含量的逐渐增加，超过了≥50％沉积物混合物的阈效应浓度（TEC），但Microtox分析并未表明对微生物具有毒性。结果还表明，混合10–25％的哈德逊河沉积物可提高黄瓜的生长速度。然而，较高的剂量导致生长抑制，表现为较低的生物量和较小的叶片。而且，随着沉积物剂量的增加，叶绿素a和b的含量也会降低。在用10％的沉积物改良的土壤中生长的植物中，苯丙氨酸和黄酮醇的含量显着较高，但在用100％的沉积物混合物处理的土壤中，苯丙氨酸和黄酮的含量显着较低。植物中的花色苷含量在50％或更高的混合物中较低。获得的结果与N和K含量的减少相对应。