Volume 299, 15 December 2015, Pages 656–663
Highlights
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- Arugula and collards accumulated As and Pb when grown in a long-contaminated orchard soil, with arugula exhibiting significantly higher As accumulation than collards.
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- Coefficients of transfer from soil into the above-ground vegetable tissues were higher for As than for Pb.
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- Contamination of arugula by Pb was correlated to soil particle contamination of above-ground tissues.
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- Amendment of soil with compost reduced plant concentrations of As and Pb.
Abstract
Arugula (Eruca sativa) and collards (Brassica oleracea var. acephala),
were grown at a former orchard where soils had been variably
contaminated by lead arsenate pesticides. To test for the effect of
compost on As and Pb transfer into plants, compost was added (0, 5, and
10% DW) to five plots representing a wide range of soil Pb and As.
Arugula accumulated about 5 times higher As concentrations in
above-ground tissues than collards, with high variability in individual
plant concentrations. Soil to arugula transfer (uptake) coefficients
were higher for As than for Pb, and increased with soil As. Crop
concentrations of Pb varied widely within replicate samples of both
arugula and collards. Arugula contamination by Pb was significantly
correlated to soil total Pb, but collard contamination was not. Evidence
was found using Al as an indicator of soil particle contamination of
plant tissues that Pb in arugula was primarily due to soil particle
deposition on foliar surfaces. Compost amendments reduced 0.01 M CaCl2
-extractable Pb but increased extractable As in the orchard soils.
However, compost had the beneficial effect of reducing both As and Pb
concentrations in harvested arugula grown on most of the plots.
Keywords
- Arsenic;
- Brassicaceae;
- Soil contamination;
- Lead;
- Plant uptake
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