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Effect of Biochar on the Content of Heavy Metals in Agrosoddy-Podzolic Sandy Loamy Soil: Laboratory Vegetation Experiment

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Abstract

Application of biochar to the soil may become an effective and environmentally safe way to reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals in polluted soils. To confirm this hypothesis, a 40-day-long laboratory vegetation experiment was performed to assess the effect of three types of biochar (of bird droppings, apple pomace, and sunflower husk as the source material) applied at the rate of 20 t/ha on the concentration of heavy metals in agrosoddy-podzolic sandy loamy soil of different cultivation rates used for growing vetch-oat mixture. The mobile forms of copper, zinc, lead, and cadmium were determined after preliminary extraction by an ammonium acetate buffer solution with pH 4.8 on a Varian AA240FS atomic absorption spectrometer. By the end of the laboratory experiment, a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the copper concentration was found both in moderately cultivated soil (MS) and in strongly cultivated soil (SS) in case of using biochar of bird droppings and apple pomace. The application of biochar of sunflower husks did not affect the copper concentration in MS, but increased it in SS. There was a gradual decrease in the zinc content in soil samples with biochar of apple pomace and sunflower husk from the beginning to the end of the experiment (by 10–12% on average) contrary to an increase by 12% in the variant with biochar of bird droppings. A significant (p < 0.05) decrease in the lead content was revealed in all the experimental variants, while the introduction of biochar of sunflower husks increased the cadmium concentration by 76–92%.

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Funding

This work was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Russian State Hydrometeorological University (RSHU), 192007, St. Petersburg, Russia

    D. M. Kostetskii & E. Y. Rizhiya

  2. Agrophysical Research Institute, 195220, St. Petersburg, Russia

    M. A. Moskvin

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  1. D. M. Kostetskii
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This study was recommended by the Organizing Committee of the International Scientific Conference XXVI Dokuchaev Youth Readings Soil Science Matrix (http://www. dokuchaevskie.ru/our-conferences/конференция-2023).

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Kostetskii, D.M., Moskvin, M.A. & Rizhiya, E.Y. Effect of Biochar on the Content of Heavy Metals in Agrosoddy-Podzolic Sandy Loamy Soil: Laboratory Vegetation Experiment. Eurasian Soil Sc. 56 (Suppl 2), S227–S234 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229323601440

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