The influence of facility agriculture production on phthalate esters distribution in black soils of northeast China

Abstract

The current study investigates the existence of 15 phthalate esters (PAEs) in surface soils (27 samples) collected from 9 different facility agriculture sites in the black soil region of northeast China, during the process of agricultural production (comprising only three seasons spring, summer and autumn). Concentrations of the 15 PAEs detected significantly varied from spring to autumn and their values ranged from 1.37 to 4.90mg/kg-dw, with a median value of 2.83mg/kg-dw. The highest concentration of the 15 PAEs (4.90mg/kg-dw) was determined in summer when mulching film was used in the greenhouses. Probably an increase in environmental temperature was a major reason for PAE transfer from the mulching film into the soil and coupled with the increased usage of chemical fertilizers in greenhouses. Results showed that of the 15 PAEs, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate(DEHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), diethyl phthalate (DEP) and dimethyl phthalate (DMP) were in abundance with the mean value of 1.12±0.22, 0.46±0.05, 0.36±0.04, and 0.17±0.01mg/kg-dw, respectively; and their average contributions in spring, summer, and autumn ranged between 64.08 and 90.51% among the 15 PAEs. The results of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated the concentration of these four main PAEs significantly differed among the facility agricultures investigated, during the process of agricultural production. In comparison with foreign and domestic results of previous researches, it is proved that the black soils of facility agriculture in northeast China show higher pollution situation comparing with non-facility agriculture soils.