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Influence of Road Proximity on the Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Korean Urban Agricultural Soils and Crops

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Abstract

The urban agricultural (UA) environment near active roadways can be degraded by traffic-related particles (i.e., exhaust gases and road dust), which may contain heavy metals. The current study investigated changes in heavy-metal [cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr) nickel (Ni), lead (Pb) and zinc (Zn)] concentrations in soils located near highly trafficked roads in Korea and the subsequent uptake of these metals by Chinese cabbage. Heavy-metal plant concentrations were determined in both washed and unwashed plant leaves to determine whether foliar deposition played any role in plant metal uptake. Soil concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn were all lower than the Korean standard soil limits and showed no significant influence from road traffic. In contrast, both Ni and Cr concentrations in soils collected within 10 m of the road were 4 and 5 times greater, respectively, than those in soils collected 70 m from the road. Heavy-metal concentrations in unwashed Chinese cabbage leaf collected at 5 m from the road were consistently greater than those of washed leaf samples, thus indicating the deposition of traffic-related particles on the plant surface. With the exception of Cu, all heavy-metal concentration in washed plant samples collected at 5 m also showed greater accumulation compared with samples collected further away. This was mainly attributed to increased total soil heavy-metal concentrations and increased metal phytoavailability induced by decreases in soil pH near the road. However, overall heavy-metal soil concentrations were well lower than the allowable concentrations, and the levels observed in plants collected in this study were considered not to currently pose a significant risk to human health. However, some traffic-related heavy metals, in particular Cr and Ni, were being accumulated in the roadside UA environment, which may warrant some caution regarding the environment and/or health issues in the future.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the 2014 sabbatical year research Grant of the University of Seoul.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Chemical Safety, Department of Agro-Food Safety, National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Wanju, 55365, Korea

    Hyuck Soo Kim & Won-Il Kim

  2. Department of Agronomy and Medicinal Plant Resources, Gyeongnam National University of Science and Technology, Jinju, 52725, Korea

    Kwon-Rae Kim

  3. Environmental Contaminants Group, Future Industries Institute, University of South Australia, Mawson Lakes, SA, 5095, Australia

    Gary Owens

  4. Department of Environmental Horticulture, University of Seoul, Seoul, 02504, Korea

    Kye-Hoon Kim

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  1. Hyuck Soo Kim
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  2. Kwon-Rae Kim
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Correspondence to Kye-Hoon Kim.

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Kim, H.S., Kim, KR., Kim, WI. et al. Influence of Road Proximity on the Concentrations of Heavy Metals in Korean Urban Agricultural Soils and Crops. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 72, 260–268 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-016-0344-y

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