Abstract
Agricultural soil contaminated with Pb is an issue of increasingly serious concern, with a great impact on crop quality and the associated toxicological risk. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of amending Pb-contaminated agricultural soils with novelty compost on soil fertility, Pb bioavailability for lettuce crops and the associated toxicological risk. Lead-contaminated soil was collected from the vicinity of a secondary smelter and amended with the maximum recommended concentration of compost (10%). Soil physicochemical and fertility parameters, Pb content and its fractionation were compared between amended and unamended contaminated soils over a 40-day incubation period. Then, lettuce was grown in the soil treatments with germination rate, Pb content in tissues and toxicological risk being determined. The compost amendment, together with the incubation period, improved the soil fertility parameters, optimizing nutrient availability for plants while reducing Pb bioavailability by 9.3%. Moreover, lettuce germination was not affected by Pb, showing a high seed tolerance. The young (edible) leaves were more susceptible to metal toxicity and accumulated Pb above the permissible levels in all treatments. Compost amendment of polluted soil reduced Pb accumulation in edible leaves by 50% with a consequent decrease in toxicological risk, although the effect was not sufficient to reach values of crops in natural soils.
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The authors of this work thank the institutions that provided funding: Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (#30820150100435CB); Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Técnica (PICT 2016-2061); Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP 11220120100402CO). The authors also thank the certified English translator Jorgelina Brasca for her language revision services.
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The following funding have contributed partially by to the design of the study, laboratory analysis, interpretation of the data and writing of the manuscript: Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, UNC (Funding holder: Salazar M.J. 30820150100435CB; Funding holder: Rodriguez J.H. PID Consolidar 33620180100151CB), Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Técnica (Funding holder: Pignata M.L. PICT 2013–0988; PICT 2016–2061) and Consejo de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Funding holder: Rodriguez J.H. PIP 11220120100402CO).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. MEG and GVF performed material preparation and data collection. MEG, GVF, JHR and MJS carried out chemical-physical laboratory analyses. GVF, JHR and MLP performed the experimental design and supervision of experiments. MEG, GVF and JHR wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Gómez, M.E., Ferreyroa, G.V., Salazar, M.J. et al. Effect of biosolid compost amended on Pb availability in soils cultivated with lettuce. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 21, 4251–4264 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05281-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-023-05281-1