High nitrogen addition after the application of sewage sludge compost decreased the bioavailability of heavy metals in soil

Abstract

Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is highly significant in agricultural production, but long-term N addition causes changes in quality indicators, such as soil organic matter (SOM), thus affecting the absorption and accumulation of organic pollutants. Therefore, paying more attention to organic fertilizers in the development of green agriculture is necessary. However, the accumulation of heavy metals (HMs) contained in organic fertilizers (especially sewage sludge compost (SSC)) in the soil can cause environmental contamination, but how this cumulative reaction changes with the long-term N addition remains unclear. Here the SSC impact on the bioavailability of five typical HMs (cadmium–Cd, chromium–Cr, copper–Cu, lead–Pb and arsenic–As) in the soil-plant system before and after SSC application was demonstrated through a field study in soils with different application rates of 0, 100 and 300 kg N ha−1yr−1, respectively. Our results showed that SSC application increased the concentration of most HMs in soil profiles and plant systems (wheat roots and grains), but the accumulation rate of HMs and most bioaccumulation values (BAC–bioaccumulation coefficient and BCF–bioconcentration factor) in plant systems were both lower in high-N addition soil than that in the low-N group. Moreover, speciation distribution results further indicated that SSC application increased the LB (liable available form, including F1–water soluble, F2–ion exchangeable, and F3–bound to carbonates) form of HMs and decreased the PB (potentially available form, including F4–humic acids and F6–fraction bound to organic matter) form of HMs in high-N addition soil, respectively. Those results suggested that HM bioavailability in high-N addition soil was lower than that in low-N addition soil when applied with SSC. Overall, this study found that increasing soil N content can inhibit the bioavailability of HMs when applying SSC, providing suggestions for optimizing the trialability and risk assessment of SSC application.