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Uptake of PAHs by cabbage root and leaf in vegetable plots near a large coking manufacturer and associations with PAHs in cabbage core

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Abstract

Samples of ambient air (including gaseous and particulate phases), dust fall, surface soil, rhizosphere soil, core (edible part), outer leaf, and root of cabbage from eight vegetable plots near a large coking manufacturer were collected during the harvest period. Concentrations, compositions, and distributions of parent PAHs in different samples were determined. Our results indicated that most of the parent PAHs in air occurred in the gaseous phase, dominated by low molecular weight (LMW) species with two to three rings. Specific isomeric ratios and principal component analysis were employed to preliminarily identify the local sources of parent PAHs emitted. The main emission sources of parent PAHs could be apportioned as a mixture of coal combustion, coking production, and traffic tailing gas. PAH components with two to four rings were prevailing in dust fall, surface soil, and rhizosphere soil. Concentrations of PAHs in surface soil exhibited a significant positive correlation with topsoil TOC fractions. Compositional profiles in outer leaf and core of cabbage, dominated by LMW species, were similar to those in the local air. Overall, the order of parent PAH concentration in cabbage was outer leaf > root > core. Partial correlation analysis and multivariate linear stepwise regression revealed that PAH concentrations in cabbage core were closely associated with PAHs present both in root and in outer leaf, namely, affected by adsorption, then absorption, and translocation of PAHs from rhizosphere soil and ambient air, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

The current study was supported by the following projects: the Natural Science Foundation Committee of China (Nos. 41390240, 41130754), the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB441101), Science and Technology Basic Special Fund (No. 2013FY111100-04), and the Undergraduate Student Research Training Program and the 111 Project (B14001) at Peking University. The authors are grateful to Yan LI and Kang SONG in College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University for their help on field sampling, and thanks to the Elsevier Language Editing Services for polishing the English expressions in this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes of Ministry of Education, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    GuanNan Xiong, YunHui Zhang, ChuanYang Cai, Xin Wang, JingYa Li, Shu Tao & WenXin Liu

  2. College of Resources and Environment, Shanxi Agricultural University, Jinzhong, Shanxi, 030801, China

    YongHong Duan

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  1. GuanNan Xiong
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  2. YunHui Zhang
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  3. YongHong Duan
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  4. ChuanYang Cai
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  5. Xin Wang
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  7. Shu Tao
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  8. WenXin Liu
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Correspondence to WenXin Liu.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

Highlights

• Dominant LMW and MMW components present in environmental media and different tissues of cabbage

• Substantial correlation of PAHs in rhizosphere soil with those in cabbage root

• Significant correlation of PAHs in outer leaf and core of cabbage with those in gaseous phase of ambient air

• Parent PAHs in cabbage tissues exhibited a concentration sequence of outer leaf > root > core.

• Close associations of PAHs in both ambient air and rhizosphere soil with those in cabbage core were presented.

Capsule

PAHs in the edible core of local cabbage were closely associated with those in ambient air and in rhizosphere soil.

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Xiong, G., Zhang, Y., Duan, Y. et al. Uptake of PAHs by cabbage root and leaf in vegetable plots near a large coking manufacturer and associations with PAHs in cabbage core. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 18953–18965 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9548-6

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