Heavy Metals In Soil-plant System Research Articles

Amended compost alleviated the stress of heavy metals to pakchoi plants and affected the distribution of heavy metals in soil-plant system

With the development of the social economy, soil heavy metal pollution has become a common worldwide issue. Therefore, the remediation of soil heavy metal pollution is imminent. This study aimed to investigate the effect of amended compost on reducing heavy metal bioavailability in soil and relieving heavy metals stress on plants under Cu and Zn stress in a pot experiment. To model the restoration of heavy metal-polluted farming soil, conventional compost (CKw), activated carbon compost (ACw), modified biochar compost (BCw) and rhamnolipid compost (RLw) were utilized. The results showed that the application of amended compost could promote the growth and quality of pakchoi and enhance the stress ability of malondialdehyde and antioxidant enzymes to heavy metals. The distribution of Cu and Zn in different subcellular parts of pakchoi was also affected. The application of amended compost significantly reduced the heavy metals content in the shoot of pakchoi, among which the content of Cu and Zn in the shoot of pakchoi in RLw was significantly decreased by 57.29% and 60.07%, respectively. Our results can provide a new understanding for efficient remediation of contaminated farmland soil by multiple heavy metals.

Elevated CO2 may increase the health risks of consuming leafy vegetables cultivated in flooded soils contaminated with Cd and Pb.

Elevated CO2 levels threat the crop quality by altering the environmental behavior of heavy metals (HMs) in soils. In reality, multiple HMs often co-exist in field, while details regarding coexisting HMs migration in flooded soil at elevated CO2 levels remain unclear. A pot experiment in open-top chambers (CO2 at 400 and 600μmolmol-1) was conducted to explore the uptake and transfer of cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in water dropwort (Oenanthe javanica DC.) grown in flooded soils contaminated with Cd and Pb. Results showed that elevated CO2 significantly reduced soil pH, promoting the release of Cd and Pb (by 63.64-106.90% and 10.66-30.99%, respectively) into soil porewater. In the harvested O. javanica, elevated CO2 decreased the root uptake of Cd but promoted that of Pb. Further mechanism analysis showed that elevated CO2 promoted the formation of iron plaque on root surface by 44.60-139.57%, with lower adsorption capacity to HMs (0-34.93% and 63.61-67.69% for Cd and Pb, respectively). Meanwhile, Pb showed lower adsorbability in iron plaque but higher transfer capacity when compared with Cd. Ultimately, elevated CO2 increased the target hazard quotient values of Pb in O. javanica. These findings provide new insights on the effects of elevated CO2 on the transfer of coexisting HMs in soil-plant system, and the risk of HMs pollution under climate changes needs to be more fully assessed.

Role of phosphorous mining in mobilization and bioaccessibility of heavy metals in soil-plant system: Abbottabad, Pakistan

Indiscriminate anthropogenic activities have considerably changed biogeochemical balance of naturally occurring heavy metals and posed serious threat to the environment. The phosphate rock (PR) mine is typically exploited for phosphorus fertilizers in Pakistan. It is mainly composed of phosphorous and minutely of many other elements like heavy metals (HM). This was the first attempt to evaluate the impacts of phosphate rock mining on soil and crop system adjoining PR mining near Abbottabad by growing maize plants due to mountainous nature of the study area. Exchangeable and water soluble forms of the HM were determined in phosphate rock. Results showed a significant increase in the concentration of HM in soil and plant samples. The heavy metal concentrations in soil samples varied in the order of Pb > Cr > Ni > Zn > Cd. The magnitude of metal species in soil samples decreased with the increasing distance from the mine irrespective of the kind of element. Maximum concentration of each metal was found at 20 m distance while minimum at 100 m distance from the mine. Phosphate mining enhanced HM concentrations in all parts of the maize plants. Plant parts differed in HM accumulation in the order: root > shoot > grain. The fields nearer to the PR site showed higher HM concentrations in plant parts. The results revealed that maize plants showed TF > 1.0 for Cd, while TF values for other heavy metals are Pb > Zn > Ni > Cr. Biological accumulation factor was higher for Cd, Pb, and Zn as compared with Cr and Ni. The results show that growing crops near PR mines is producing tangible impacts on soil-plant system thereby entering food chain and affecting the human and animal health.

Health risk assessment of heavy metals in soil-plant system amended with biogas slurry in Taihu basin, China.

Biogas slurry is a product of anaerobic digestion of manure that has been widely used as a soil fertilizer. Although the use for soil fertilizer is a cost-effective solution, it has been found that repeated use of biogas slurry that contains high heavy metal contents can cause pollution to the soil-plant system and risk to human health. The objective of this study was to investigate effects of biogas slurry on the soil-plant system and the human health. We analyzed the heavy metal concentrations (including As, Pb, Cu, Zn, Cr and Cd) in 106 soil samples and 58 plant samples in a farmland amended with biogas slurry in Taihu basin, China. Based on the test results, we assessed the potential human health risk when biogas slurry containing heavy metals was used as a soil fertilizer. The test results indicated that the Cd and Pb concentrations in soils exceeded the contamination limits and Cd exhibited the highest soil-to-root migration potential. Among the 11 plants analyzed, Kalimeris indica had the highest heavy metal absorption capacity. The leafy vegetables showed higher uptake of heavy metals than non-leafy vegetables. The non-carcinogenic risks mainly resulted from As, Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn through plant ingestion exposure. The integrated carcinogenic risks were associated with Cr, As and Cd in which Cr showed the highest risk while Cd showed the lowest risk. Among all the heavy metals analyzed, As and Cd appeared to have a lifetime health threat, which thus should be attenuated during production of biogas slurry to mitigate the heavy metal contamination.

Interaction between Cd and Pb in the soil-plant system: a case study of an arid oasis soil-cole system

The Hexi Corridor, our study area, is located in Northwest China and is also the most developed area of oasis farming in arid regions of Northwestern China. However, the rapid development of metallurgy and chemical industries in this region poses a great threat to the accumulation of heavy metals in crops. The objectives of this study are (1) to determine the influence of heavy metals on plant growth; (2) to assess the translocation capability of heavy metals in soil-plant system; and (3) to investigate the interaction between heavy metals. Pot experiments were conducted on cole (Brassica campestris L.) grown in the arid oasis soils singly and jointly treated with cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). Nine treatments were applied into the pots. Under the same planting conditions, three scenarios of Cd, Pb and Cd-Pb were designed to compare the interaction between Cd and Pb. The results showed that the response of cole weights to Cd, Pb and Cd-Pb treatments was slight, while Cd and Pb uptakes in cole were more sensitive to the single effects of Cd and Pb concentration in soils from the lower treatment levels. Under the influence of the single Cd, Pb and joint Cd-Pb treatments, Cd concentrations were lower in the cole roots than in the shoots, while for Pb, the results were opposite. Comparison studies revealed that the interaction of Cd and Pb could weaken the cole’s ability to uptake, concentrate and translocate heavy metals in arid oasis soils.