Heavy metal contamination in soils of greenhouse vegetable production systems in a cold region of China

Zhimin Yu,Jizhou Zhang,Pin Lv,Limin Wang,Zimin Wei

doi:10.25165/j.ijabe.20191202.4306

Abstract

Heavy metal (HM) contamination in soils of greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) systems has drawn increasing attention in terms of food safety. In the present study, 64 surface soils were sampled, and the concentrations of select HMs were determined using atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results showed that the concentrations of cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni) and chromium (Cr) in the soils were (0.2±0.2) mg/kg, (26.5±8.4) mg/kg, (101.4±43.2) mg/kg, (29.1±8.6) mg/kg, (24.5±3.3) mg/kg, and (56.5±6.3) mg/kg, and the corresponding accumulation index (AI) values were 2.30, 1.10, 1.43, 1.45, 1.07, and 0.97, respectively. The spatial distribution of the HMs suggested that Cd pollution displays a fractionation effect, which may be related to the source of Cd and its mobility. The concentration of Zn was significantly correlated with that of other HMs, implying that a comprehensive interactive effect might occur between Zn and other HMs. Furthermore, the values of the potential ecological risk index (RI) ranged from 41.23 to 185.91, meaning that attention should be paid to HM contamination of GVP soils to ensure food quality and safety. Keywords: heavy metal contamination, cold region, greenhouse vegetable production (GVP), distribution, ecological risk, food quality, food safety DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20191202.4306 Citation: Lv P, Wei Z M, Yu Z M, Zhang J Z, Wang L M. Heavy metal contamination in soils of greenhouse vegetable production systems in a cold region of China. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2019; 12(2): 98–102.

Highlights

Greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) has rapidly expanded worldwide, especially in developing countries[1,2,3,4]
Manure, which can be used as an organic fertilizer to increase crop nutrient availability, soil organic matter (SOM), cation exchange capacity and water holding capacity, has the potential to be recycled in agricultural lands[15]
The soil properties, including the SOM, available nitrogen (AN), available phosphorus (AP), available potassium (AK), pH, and electrical conductivity, were measured using corresponding analytical methods of soil and agricultural chemistry[18]. After they were digested with HClO4, HNO3 and HF according to the corresponding Chinese National Standards, Heavy metal (HM), including copper (Cu), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn), were detected by using flame spectrophotometry and a graphite furnace

Summary

Introduction

Greenhouse vegetable production (GVP) has rapidly expanded worldwide, especially in developing countries[1,2,3,4]. This method has become a major contributor to vegetable production in China due increased living standards, increased demand for vegetable consumption and economic benefits for vegetable producers[4,5]. It is hard to avoid increasing HM accumulations in soils due to extraneous inputs from agricultural production and anthropogenic activities such as extensive applications of fertilizers, manure and pesticides; wastewater irrigation; and atmospheric deposition[6,13,14]. Manure applications have become an important source of certain HM inputs in soils[16]

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Results

Conclusion