JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Heavy metals including cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) are entering agricultural soils from different routes and mainly due to human activities. Accumulated Cd and Pb in the soil would eventually enter the human and animal food chains and pose threat to their health. Therefore, evaluating heavy metal accumulation is necessary to prevent soil and environmental pollutions and should be considered by researchers as well as policy makers. This study was conducted to model the accumulation rates of Cd and Pb in the agro-ecosystems of Isfahan, Mobarakeh, Lenjan, Borkhar, Najafabad, Khomeinishahr and Felavarjan. Cadmium and lead accumulation rates in the agro-ecosystems were computed using a stochastic mass balance model which uses Latin Hypercube sampling in combination with Monte-Carlo simulation procedure. Agricultural information including crop types, crop area and yield, the type and the number of livestock, application rate of mineral fertilizers, compost and sewage sludge and also metal concentration in plant and amendments were used to quantify Cd and Pb accumulation rates. Modeling Cd and Pb accumulation rates indicated that the metals are accumulating in the agricultural lands in the studied townships. The largest Cd (18 g ha^-1 yr^-1) and Pb (260 g ha^-1 yr^-1) accumulation rates were found in the township of Isfahan but the minimum accumulation rates were found in township of Lenjan for Cd (3 g ha^-1 yr^-1) and Mobarakeh for Pb (10 g ha^-1 yr^-1). The major input route to agricultural soils is phosphate fertilizers for Cd but for Pb is manure on the regional scale. High application rates of sewage sludge and compost in agricultural lands in the township of Isfahan could result in considerable amounts of Cd and Pb entering the soils of this region.

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Sewage sludge application on farmland as fertilizer is commonly practiced in many countries. Sewage sludge is rich in macro- and micro- nutrients. However, high concentration of heavy metals in sludge may cause pollution of soil, groundwater and human food chain because of uptake of toxic metals by crops. The objective of this study was to determine residual and cumulative effects of sewage sludge on concentration of Pb and Cd in soil and wheat. Different levels of 0, 25, 50 and 100 Mg ha^-1 of sewage sludge were applied to the soil for four years. To study the cumulative and residual effects of the sewage sludge, applications were repeated on three fourth of each plot in the second year, on one half of plots in the third year and in one fourth of plots in the fourth year. Wheat grown in the plots, after the fourth year, soil samples from the 0-20 cm depth of the different parts of the plots were taken and analyzed. Wheat was also harvested roots, stems and grains were separately analyzed for the heavy metal concentritons. Cumulative sewage sludge application increased OM, CEC, ECe, total and DTPA-extractable concentration of Pb and Cd in soil significantly (P≤ 0.05). Residual sewage sludge in the soil also increased CEC, total and DTPA-extractable concentration of Pb and Cd significantly. Single sludge applications at different rates increased the DTPA-extractable concentrations of heavy metals. In subsequent years with no further sludge application, DTPA–extractable metal concentrations in soil decreased continuously approaching the levels in the control. However, even after four years, DTPA-extractable concentration of Pb and Cd, were still significantly higher in plots which received more than 50 Mg ha^-1 sludge than control. DTPA-extractable concentrations of Pb was closely correlated with total concentrations. Sewage sludge increased concentration of Cd in roots and stems and Pb in grains significantly. Cumulative effects on concentrations of Pb in grains, and Cd in stems were more than residual effects. The results of this study show that cumulative and residual effects of sewage sludge application increased concentrations of heavy metals in soil and wheat.

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  Phytoremediation is a new technology that employs plants to remediate contaminated soils. This method compared to those that involve the use of large scale energy consuming equipments is an inexpensive method. Phytoremediation models are useful tools to further understanding the governing processes and also to manage the contaminated soils. A thorough literature review indicates that very few models have been developed for phytoremediation due to the complexity of the phenomena. The objective of this study was to develop a simple model for phytoremediation of lead and cadmium. A new formulation of phytoremediation was established based on soil and plant responses to heavy metal pollution. A large quantity of a sandy loam soil was thoroughly mixed to ensure homogeneous different concentration levels by lead and cadmium. These contaminated soils were transferred to some plastic pots. Land Cress (Barbarea verna) and Spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) seeds were germinated in pots containing 8 kg of contaminated soil. Plants were harvested at five time intervals. The concentrations of Pb and Cd in the plant and soil samples were digested by wet oxidation and 4 M Nitric acid digestion methods, respectively, and were determined by flame and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry methods. Proposed models then were calibrated using the collected data and validated quantitatively. The results indicated that the soil adsorption isotherms followed a linear form for both Pb and Cd concentrations. The results also indicated that the phytoremediation rate of Pb by Land Cress and Spinach are first-order function of Pb concentration in soil. In contrast, a zero-order function of soil Cd contaminations was obtained. Combining these two results of soil and plant responses to Pb and Cd pollution, a simple model with reasonable performance was derived to predict the time needed for remediation of soil Pb (R² > 0.98). However, in the case of Cd, the derived models appeared to be useful to make only some overall estimations of the remediation (R²≈^�0.70).

 

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In this study, two kinds of packages namely tinplate (TP) can and flexible pouch were used for black cherry in syrup. Samples were taken in the same condition in these two packages. Other variables were temperature (4 levels) 4, 23, 35 and 40°C and time (4 levels) 0, 30, 60 and 90 days after preparation of the samples. Samples were digested according to the approved method of AOAC (AOAC, 1990). The total concentrations of Iron, Tin and lead, were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The mean concentration of Iron, Tin and Lead was 4/858 ppm, 38/459 ppb, 38/459ppb in TP cans and 3/161 ppm, 387/978ppb, 33/993 ppb in flexible pouches. Statistical analysis showed that at %5 probability level, the mean value of Iron content of the product packed in TP cans were significantly higher than the control the same was true about both lead and Tin content. However, this trend was not proved in flexible pouches. Furthermore, temperature had a significant effect on the metal content of the samples.

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The contamination of soils with lead is a major environmental problem throughout the world. Phytoextraction of heavy metals from contaminated soils has the prospect of being a more economic in situ alternative. Chemically enhanced phytoextraction has been proposed as an effective approach to remove heavy metals from contaminated soil through the use of high biomass plants. Using a pot experiment, the effects of the application of three rates of EDTA at 0, 1.5 and 3 mmol/kg soil and sulfuric acid at 0, 0.5 and 1 mmol/kg soil with two rates of Pb at 0 and 200 mmol.kg-1 on the uptake of Pb by corn (Zea mays L. single cross 704 var.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L. ajili var.), and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. varamin var.) plants were studied. The results showed that EDTA was more effective than sulfuric acid in increasing the concentration of Pb in shoots and roots for all plants studied. The maximum amount with application of EDTA to soil for shoots of corn, sunflower, and cotton were 4.07, 6.49 and 31.33 times higher than the control, respectively. EDTA also enhanced Pb content of roots of corn, sunflower, and cotton 3.38, 1.63 and 1.09 times higher than the control, respectively. DTPA-Pb was higher in soil treated with EDTA than sulfuric acid. The application of EDTA also significantly increased shoot-to-root ratio of Pb in plants examined. The results of this study showed that corn was able to phytoextract more Pb than sunflower and cotton.

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Arbuscular mycorrhizae (AM) and Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) associations are integral and functioning parts of plant roots. These associations have a basic role in root uptake efficiency as well as improvement of plant growth in degraded environments including heavy metals contaminated soils. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of heavy metal-resistant soil microbe's inoculation on bio-availability of Pb and Cd in soil, plant growth as well as metal uptake by Millet (Pennisetum glaucum), Couch grass (Triticum repens) and wild alfalfa (Medicago sativa). A soil sample was treated by different levels of Pb and Cd (soil 1). Native microbial inoculums were obtained from alfalfa rhizosphere soils adjacent to Pb and Cd mines in Zanjan region (soil 2), then added with weight ratio of 1:5 (w/w) to soil 1. Host plants including millet, couch grass, and alfalfa were grown in pots and kept in greenhouse conditions. At the end of growing period, shoot dry matter and Pb and Cd concentrations in plant and soil were measured. Results indicated that plants yield and Pb uptake were significantly higher in non-inoculated treatments (p ≤ 0.05). However, Cd uptake by plants was greater in inoculated treatments (p ≤ 0.05). Couch grass showed the most accumulation potential of Cd and Pb among the studied plants.

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Cow manure and sewage sludge add heavy metals to soil. Organic and inorganic fractions in these compounds can immobilize heavy metals such as lead (Pb) and affect their bio-availability. This investigation was conducted to compare the effects of organic and inorganic fractions of sewage sludge and cow manure on distribution of lead chemical forms in soil as a completely randomized design. Treatments consisted of application of 10% (w/w) enriched sewage sludge and cow manure (6 g Pb kg-1 organic amendments). Another treatment was also used in which soil Pb concentration was increased to 600 mg kg-1 soil using Pb(NO3)2 salt. To compare the effects of organic and inorganic fractions, organic carbon, iron oxide and easily reducible iron and manganese were removed from cow manure and sewage sludge, and were added to the soil by 10% (w/w). The samples were incubated at 23-25ºC for 111 days and their moisture was maintained at 80% water field capacity. More than 50% Pb in Pb(NO3)2 treatment was in exchangeable fraction, while for cow manure and sewage sludge treatments more than 40% Pb was found to be in oxide fraction. Application of cow manure and sewage sludge increased the Pb in oxide fraction by 14.8 and 17.5%, respectively. Removing organic carbon fraction of cow manure and sewage sludge increased the Pb bound to residual fraction by 12% and 14% respectively. Removing iron oxide fraction of sewage sludge and cow manure decreased the Pb bound to oxide fraction by 8% and 13%, respectively. Removing easily reducible iron and manganese decreased the oxide fraction of Pb by 16% and 14%, respectively. It is concluded that, despite relatively high amounts of organic carbon in the sludge and manure, inorganic fractions of these materials have more significant effects on availability of Pb in soil.

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Soil contamination with heavy metals, including Cd and Pb, is of serious concern. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficiency of Atriplex verucifera, Salicornia europaea and Chenopodium album for simultaneous remediation of soil exchangeable sodium percentage and Cd and Pb contamination in two soils with different properties. Two soils, including a saline-sodic-calcareous (S1) and calcareous (S2) soil, were selected. Different concentrations of Pb and Cd were then added to the soils. The contaminated soils were incubated under a wetting-drying cycle for nearly seven months. The plants, seeds were grown in pots containing different treatments of polluted soils and in control treatment (no Cd and Pb contaminations). The plant yields and concentrations of Pb, Cd and Na in the soil and plant samples were measured. A considerable accumulation of soil Cd by Salicornia and Pb accumulation by Atriplex and Salicornia was observed under unsuitable conditions of the saline-sodic soil, whereas Atriplex and Chenopodium had high capability for Cd in the soil S2. Also these plants caused the reduction of ESP in soil S1. The results revealed that these plants could be used for remediation of Pb and Cd contaminated soils. In this study, Salicornia with lower rate of yield reduction had the highest tolerance to Cd-stress. Understanding the complex plant and soil (salinity-sodicity and soil metal concentration) factors controlling the metals concentrations in the plants will help to design phytoextraction technology for arid, salt-affected regions.

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Nowadays, due to drought and water shortage, use of unconventional waters, particularly sewage, has become usual in agriculture whereas they often contain heavy metals. The present study was employed to evaluate the effect of urban wastewater of Shahrekord on growth, yield and accumulation of heavy metals (lead and cadmium) in balm (Melissa officinalis) as a medicinal plant with five treatments (0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 percent wastewater) and three replications in a completely randomized experimental design. The results showed that the highest shoot length, stem diameter and stem number, number of leaves and tillers are achieved in the treatment of 100 percent. The wet and dry weight of shoots and roots was highest in 100 % of wastewater. Oil percentage of the leaves was also the highest amount (1.23 %) in 100 % of wastewater. Accumulation of lead in roots and aerial parts and its transmission factor was not significant for the treatments. However, the highest concentration of lead in root (0.057 mg/kg) and shoots (0.013 mg/kg) was observed in 100 % of wastewater and the lowest one was related to zero percent of wastewater treatment. The lead concentration was less than the critical limit for all the treatments. The amount of cadmium was undetectable in all the plant samples. The results of this study demonstrated that urban wastewater of Shahrekord, in addition to providing water, increases plant growth and essential oil.

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In order to investigate the effects of municipal solid waste enriched with mineral fertilizers on some soil physical properties and lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) concentration in plant organs of spinach, a field experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement based on the randomized complete block design with three replications in 2008. The main plot included four levels of fertilizer, control without fertilizer, 20 tons of multiple solid waste + 50% chemical fertilizers and 40 tons of multiple solid waste + 50% chemical fertilizers per hectare and sub-plot consisted of a period of application in 3 levels of time (one, two and three years). The results showed that application of enriched municipal compost increased field capacity, soil porosity and moisture holding capacity, but particle and bulk density of soil decreased compared to the control. Also, the physical parameters in the two levels of emriched waste compost were higher than chemical fertilizer treatment. On the other hand, using for three-years the urban waste compost enriched fertilizer at all levels increased significantly (p 0.05) lead and chromium concentrations in spinach. The Pb and Cr accumulated in roots and shoots of spinach in urban using 40 tons of waste compost per hectare with 50 percent of chemical fertilizer for a period of three years and showed a significant increase. The amounts of fertilizer in all three levels were higher than the root element shoot.

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Environmental pollution caused by heavy metals such as lead is a serious and growing problem. Due to the importance of wheat in the human nutrition, this research was conducted to study concentration of lead in the soil and also seeds of wheat farms in Khuzestan Province. Therefore, in the agricultural year of 2007-2008, the soil and wheat seed samples were collected from 100 farms whose locations were specified using weighing sampling method. The lead concentrations in soil (total and available), and wheat seeds samples were measured. The result revealed that lead concentrations in soil and seeds in none of the studied regions exceeded the respective critical levels (50 and 30-300 mg/kg, respectively). Ezeh with an average of 0.01 µg/kg had the lowest amount of lead in the wheat seeds, while Bagh‌Malek with an average of 190 µg/kg had the highest amount. The mean concentration of available lead in the soils of study region was 0.6 mg/kg. The concentration of available lead had a negative and significant correlation (r=-0.2*) with the ECe. Also, lead concentration in wheat seeds had a positive and significant correlation (r=0.3**) with the amount of calcium carbonate equivalent. More lead concentration in seeds of bread wheat cultivars showed its higher potential for accumulation of lead than durum wheat.

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In order to investigate the cumulative effect of three-year application of municipal solid waste compost (C) and the compost accompanied with chemical fertilizer (CF) on the concentrations of some heavy metals in various organs of rice plant, a field experiment with completely randomized design in three replications was performed in 2009. Treatments were as follows: Control (without C and CF), CF (100 kg urea, 100 kg super phosphate and 100 kg potassium sulphate per ha), 15, 30 and 45 tons of C without CF, 15, 30 and 45 tons of C with 25%, 50% and 75% CF. Results showed that application of compost in three years would increase the amounts of Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr in different organs of rice plant. Also, application of C accompanied with CF increased the amount of Ni, Pb, Cd and Cr in various organs of rice compared to C. The highest concentration of nickel and lead (9.1 and 7.8 mg.kg-1 respectively) were obtained in grains in 45 ton C + 50% CF per ha treatment. Meanwhile, the maximum content of cadmium in grain (1.6 mg.kg-1) in 30 ton C + 75% CF ha-1treatment, and the highest amount of chromium in grain (1.8 mg.kg-1 ) resulted from 30 ton + 25% CF ha-1treatment.

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By modifying plants at genetical, physiological and ecological levels, entophytic fungi as the most important soil microorganisms have a pronounced growth-promoting activity and also increase plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. This research was undertaken to evaluate the potential of P. indica to increase barley (Hordeumvulgare L.) resistance to lead (pb). Therefore, a greenhouse experiment with two fungus treatments (non-inoculated and P. indica inoculated) and five levels of pb (0, 25, 50, 100 and 500 mg/kg) with three replications was conducted based on a factorial design. Measurement of shoot and root dry weight showed that the growth of P. indica-colonized plants at all levels of pb treatments was higher (P < 0.05) than that of the corresponding controls. Also, chlorophyll concentration of inoculated plants with P. indica was superior to non-inoculated plants. In addition, the results showed that in contrast to the plant shoot, lead concentration in the root of P. indica-colonized plants was higher than the non-inoculated controls.

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The present study was conducted to increase phytoextraction efficiency of Festuca ovina L. in lead contaminated soil in the EDTA-assisted (0, 1.5, 3, 1.5+1.5, 3+3, 6 mmol kg&minus;1), assess the best time of plant harvesting to increase Pb uptake and method of EDTA application to reduce Pb leaching risk. The results revealed that the greatest Pb uptake was observed in 3EDTA treatment. Therefore, 3mmolkg-1 was used in the second step for assessing harvest time for 15, 30 and 45 days. Results showed that the concentration of Pb in plant tissues was increased with the passage of time and the best harvest time to achieve maximum removal of Pb was 60 days of the first harvest. In the third step to reduce leaching of Pb-chelate, 3mmolkg-1 EDTA in five ways of single, double, triple, quadruplet, quintuplet were added to the soil. The results indicated that under quintuplet application, Pb content reached its minimum concentration in the soil and in the plant organs, the Pb concentration was maximum and metal concentration in the plant organs did not vary significantly when triple, quadruplet and quintuplet dosages were added (p<5%). Overall, optimum phytoextraction of F. ovina L. and Pb leaching reduction were achieved when 3mmol kg&minus;1 EDTA was added in quintuplet dosage and the plant was harvested at the end of growth stage.

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Consequences of heavy metal accumulation in soils are of great concern. One way of decontaminating heavy metals from soils is using chelating agents, particularly EDTA. In this research, three contaminated soils (with total concentration of these metals of 10.5, 55.8 and 80.6 mmol kg-1) were collected from the surface layer of the lands surrounding a zinc-lead smelting plant in Zanjan province. The extent of Zn, Pb and Cd release by Na2H2EDTA (100 mmol kg-1 of dry soil) from these soils in column leaching experiments (both continuous and pulse addition methods) assembled into half of saturated hydraulic conductivity was assessed. In preliminary experiments, the leaching was stopped due to a drop in hydraulic conductivity. Therefore, the continuous addition method was performed with calcium nitrate as the background solution and the pulse addition method was conducted using this background solution coupled with pH adjustment to 8. Based on the results, the percentage removal of Cd as well as Pb was relatively the same for the two addition methods while the removal of Zn was 13% on average higher in the continuous addition method than in the pulse addition method. For both methods, the removal efficiencies followed the order of complex stability constants (as Pb>Zn>Cd) in a limited concentration range of EDTA to complex heavy metals. Furthermore, in contrast to Cd and Pb, a direct linear relationship was found between the percentage removal of Pb and its total amount in the soils. Surprisingly, the Pb concentration was on average only about one-twentieth of the Zn concentration. The breakthrough curves of both methods showed the mobility order of Cd>Zn>Pb. In general, it seems that the removal pattern of soil heavy metals is dependent not only on the soil type but also on the removal method.

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Soil contamination by Pb leads to a reduction in the quality and quantity of crop yield, because it is highly toxic in soluble ionic forms. The availability of this element for plant roots can reduce by the formation of compounds with low solubility and their sedimentation by phosphorous amendments.. Root symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi can also increase plant resistance against heavy metals. This study was carried out as a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design asa greenhouse experiment on sunflower plant at Shahrood University. Treatments included mycorrhizal fungi with two levels of inoculation, (with and without inoculation), organic and inorganic phosphorous fertilizers such as humic acid, diammonium phosphate, bone meal and bone meal+humic acid. The results showed that inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi resulted in a significant increase (P&ge0.05) in percentage of mycorrhizal colonization and an increase in soil EC,shootdry weight and phosphous uptake by the plant. Phosphorus fertilizers significantly increased the available phosphorus in soil, dry weight and uptake of phosphorus by the shoots. The interaction effects of mycorrhiza and phosphorus fertilizers on soil exchange able Pbwere significant. The application of diammonium phosphate and mycorrhiza had the greatest impacton the reduction of Pb (by 25.48percent) in the soil exchange. Mycorrhizal plants had a lower rate of lead concentrations in shoots, which was equal to 78/14%, and also the application of phosphorus fertilizers significantly reduced Pb in plant shoots.

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