Abstract
Soil amendments may decrease trace element accumulation in vegetables, improving food security and allowing the recovery of contaminated farmlands. Despite some promising results in the laboratory, validation of soil amendments in field conditions are scarce, especially in aerobic soils. Here, we assessed the effect of different potential soil amendments on arsenic (As) accumulation in lettuces. Then, we compared them in terms of food security and the associated investment (efficacy and efficiency, respectively). We also hypothesized that the soil amendments do not lead to side effects, such as yield decrease, phytotoxicity of Cu, or undesired changes in soil properties. Thereby, we assessed lettuces grown on untreated contaminated soils (C+), treated contaminated soils, and untreated uncontaminated soils (C−) in two contrasting soil types (sandy and loamy soils). The treated contaminated soils consisted of multiple soil amendments. Soil amendments were: diammonium phosphate (DP), iron sulfate (IS), ferrous phosphate (FP), calcium peroxide (CP), and organic matter (OM). We found that phosphate amendments (DP and FP) reduced the As in edible tissues of lettuce in both areas, while CP only reduced As accumulation in the sandy soils area. The As intake through lettuces grown on these amended soils was about 30% lower than on the unamended ones. Cu concentrations in lettuces above 25 mg kg−1 grown in contaminated soils without reducing growth were found, a result that differed from non-field studies.
Highlights
The intake of arsenic (As) in people by food consumption is an issue of global concern since it can induce several deleterious effects on human health [1]
Soils collected in plots from the same study area showed similar characteristics
C-SS and C-LS were considered contaminated by As and Cu according to contamination factor analysis (Cf) (Table S2)
Summary
The intake of arsenic (As) in people by food consumption is an issue of global concern since it can induce several deleterious effects on human health [1]. Remediation experiences on crops grown in soils under aerobic conditions, where arsenate ((AsO4)3−) is the most common speciation of As (e.g., [4]), are much fewer in number. This knowledge gap is seen in Mediterranean areas such as central Chile despite their global importance due to the high diversity of food produced. VS and CS have functioned constantly since 1964 and 1959, respectively, until nowadays During this period, smelter atmospheric emissions have increased trace element concentrations in the surrounding agricultural soils, especially with As and Cu. During the 1990s, the smelters implemented significant environmental improvements [7], but chronic contamination of the surrounding soils is still a problem [8,9]
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