Heavy metals (Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd) in the system soil – grapevine – grape

Abstract

An Erratum has been published for this article in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 79(15)1999, 2122. The investigation was carried out in the period 1991–1995 in a region with a major industrial pollutant, the Non-Ferrous-Metal Works, and a region with no industrial pollutants (as a control). The heavy metal content in soil, roots, annual shoots and perennial parts of grapevine, leaves, grapes and wine, was determined. Soil samples and roots of the rootstock Kober 5BB were taken at 10 cm intervals from depths of 0–100 cm. Roots were divided by thickness in fractions at 1 mm intervals. The shoots, bark, vascular tissue, wood, core and diaphragm were investigated. The leaf analyses included leaf blade and leaf petioles, and those of grapes, berry-free raceme (washed in a lot of water and unwashed). Berries were analysed (the berry skin, the pulp and the seeds). The results obtained for the Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd contents in the grapevine roots show that they depend significantly both on their amounts in the soil and the age of the roots. The main parts of the heavy metal amounts taken by the roots of the grapevine from the soil are fixed and accumulated in the young feed rootlets (with diameters of 1 mm), and small amounts of them move through the conducting system to the older, larger diameter root system. The experimental data obtained for the presence of Pb, Cu, Zn and Cd in the separate tissues and organs of grapevines grown in an industrially polluted region showed that their amounts were mainly due to the heavy-metal-containing aerosols falling from the atmosphere. Part of them, however, got into the soil, and from there, even if in minimal amounts, penetrated via the root system into the grapevine plants and accumulated into their different overground parts. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry