Abstract
This paper assesses the impact of creosote and low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) on the activity of acid phosphomonoesterase, alkaline phosphomonoesterase, phosphotriesterase, and inorganic pyrophosphatase in soil. The experiment was carried out on loamy sand samples with organic carbon content of 8.71 g · kg -1 , with the following variable factors: dosages of creosote: 0, 0.5%, and 2.5%; type of LMWOAs: oxalic acid, tartaric acid, and citric acid in the amount of 50 mmol · kg -1 of soil; days of experiment: 1, 7, 14, 28, 56, 112. Obtained results showed that contamination with creosote caused decrease in the activity of soil phosphatases. The observed effect did not always increase with increase in the dosage of the pollutant. Among the assayed phosphatases, the biggest changes were noted in the activity of phosphomonoesterases. Application of LMWOAs to contaminated soil mainly effected the inhibition of phosphatase, especially the activity of acid phosphomonoesterase. Comparison of the effects of LMWOAs showed that the citric acid was the least toxic to soil phosphatases.
Highlights
Creosote is a wood-preserving product obtained by fractional distillation of crude coal tar and produced by high-temperature carbonization of bituminous coal (Gallego et al 2008)
IPP activity was significantly decreased during all experiment in soil with the addition of oxalic acid and tartaric acid, whereas application of citric acid inhibited IPP activity only from day 1 to day 28
Renella et al (2007) have shown that the activity of phosphatase in the rhizosphere soil layer was generally stimulated by low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs)
Summary
Creosote is a wood-preserving product obtained by fractional distillation of crude coal tar and produced by high-temperature carbonization of bituminous coal (Gallego et al 2008) It is composed of approximately 85% polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), 10% phenolic compounds, and 5% N-, S-, and O-heterocyclics (Simarro et al 2013). The most commonly studied phosphatases include phosphomonoesterases, which catalyze the hydrolysis of organic phosphoric monoesters (Wang et al 2011). Apart from these enzymes, soil contains phosphodiesterases and phosphotriesterases, which catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphate diesters and triesters, respectively, as well as an inorganic pyrophosphatase that catalyzes the decomposition of pyrophosphate to orthophosphates (Reitzel and Turner 2014)
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