Accumulation Status and Sources of Hg in Greenhouse Vegetable Production Systems

Abstract

Greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) with huge amount of manure, fertilizer and pesticide input can contribute heavy metal enrichment in soils. This research was conducted to explore the accumulation status of Hg in greenhouse soils, reveal the effects of soil properties on Hg enrichment, and find out the pollutant source. Total Hg concentrations in soils increased with utilization ages of vegetable greenhouses in 0-20 cm layers, but the linear relationship was not significant (F = 3.363, P = 0.078), indicating that the shift in land use did not obviously affect Hg accumulation in soils. According to multivariate statistical analysis, it could be concluded that Hg accumulation in soils may be affected by the anthropogenic and geogenic elements. Although Hg contamination did not appear in studied areas according to National Soil Environmental Quality Standard I (Hg ≤ 0.15 mg · kg−1), it must be paid more attention to Hg enrichment due to long-term utilization of greenhouse vegetable production and management technology.