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The respective effects of soil heavy metal fractions by sequential extraction procedure and soil properties on the accumulation of heavy metals in rice grains and brassicas

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Abstract

This study was carried out to examine heavy metal accumulation in rice grains and brassicas and to identify the different controls, such as soil properties and soil heavy metal fractions obtained by the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) sequential extraction, in their accumulation. In Guangdong Province, South China, rice grain and brassica samples, along with their rhizospheric soil, were collected from fields on the basis of distance downstream from electroplating factories, whose wastewater was used for irrigation. The results showed that long-term irrigation using the electroplating effluent has not only enriched the rhizospheric soil with Cd, Cr, Cu, and Zn but has also increased their mobility and bioavailability. The average concentrations of Cd and Cr in rice grains and brassicas from closest to the electroplating factories were significantly higher than those from the control areas. Results from hybrid redundancy analysis (hRDA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) showed that the BCR fractions of soil heavy metals could explain 29.0 and 46.5 % of total eigenvalue for heavy metal concentrations in rice grains and brassicas, respectively, while soil properties could only explain 11.1 and 33.4 %, respectively. This indicated that heavy metal fractions exerted more control upon their concentrations in rice grains and brassicas than soil properties. In terms of metal interaction, an increase of residual Zn in paddy soil or a decrease of acid soluble Cd in the brassica soil could enhance the accumulation of Cd, Cu, Cr, and Pb in both rice grains and brassicas, respectively, while the reducible or oxidizable Cd in soil could enhance the plants’ accumulation of Cr and Pb. The RDA showed an inhibition effect of sand content and CFO on the accumulation of heavy metals in rice grains and brassicas. Moreover, multiple stepwise linear regression could offer prediction for Cd, Cu, Cr, and Zn concentrations in the two crops by soil heavy metal fractions and soil properties.

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Abbreviations

SOM:

Soil organic matter

CEC:

Cation exchange capability

AFO:

Amorphous Fe oxides

CFO:

Crystalline Fe oxides

ASF:

Acid soluble fraction

RDF:

Reducible fraction

OXF:

Oxidizable fraction

RSF:

Residual fraction

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the Research Fund for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51039007 and No. 40971054) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities. We would like to thank all the members of the research team. In addition, the authors benefited from helpful discussions with Yanting Hu.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Ling Xiao, Dongsheng Guan, Yujuan Chen & Qiqi Li

  2. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control and Remediation Technology (Sun Yat-sen University), Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Ling Xiao, Dongsheng Guan, Yujuan Chen & Qiqi Li

  3. Department of Geography, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    M. R. Peart

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  1. Ling Xiao
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  2. Dongsheng Guan
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Correspondence to Dongsheng Guan.

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Xiao, L., Guan, D., Peart, M.R. et al. The respective effects of soil heavy metal fractions by sequential extraction procedure and soil properties on the accumulation of heavy metals in rice grains and brassicas. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 2558–2571 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-8028-8

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