Abstract
Drinking teas containing high fluoride (F) imposes fluorosis risk. The soil F bioavailability is an important factor influencing its uptake and contents in teas. The present work was conducted to investigate F fractions in soil and their bioavailability to tea plants. Tea seedlings were cultivated on 6 typical soils treated with a mixture consisting of dolomite, lime, peat and KCl at variable rates in the pot experiment. Soils and young shoots were collected in pairs from 63 sites of 21 plantations in a field experiment. Soil fluoride was sequentially separated into hot water soluble \([{\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{h, H}}_{ 2} {\text{O,s)}}}} ]\), exchangeable \({\text{F}}\;[{\text{F}}_{{({\text{MgCl}}_{ 2} , {\text{ s}})}} ]\) (by 1 mol L−1 MgCl2, pH = 7.0), F bound to Mn and Fe hydroxides [F(oxides,s)], and organic matter [F(OM,s)] or extracted independently by water \([{\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O)}}}} ]\) or 0.01 mol L−1 CaCl2 solution \([{\text{F}}_{{(0.01{\text{ M CaCl}}_{ 2} )}} ]\). Averaged \({\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{h, H}}_{ 2} {\text{O,s)}}}}\), \({\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{MgCl}}_{ 2} , {\text{ s)}}}}\), F(oxides,s) and F(OM,s) accounted for 51, 14, 5 and 30 % of the total sequential extracts, respectively. There were significant correlations among \({\text{F}}_{{ ( 0. 0 1 {\text{ M CaCl}}_{ 2} )}}\), \({\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O)}}}}\) and F(OM,s). Fluoride contents in leaves correlated with \({\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O)}}}}\) (r = 0.71, p < 0.001), \({\text{F}}_{{ ( 0. 0 1 {\text{ M CaCl}}_{ 2} )}}\) (r = 0.93, p < 0.001) and F(OM,s) (r = 0.69, p < 0.01) but not other fractions in the pot experiment and with \({\text{F}}_{{ ( {\text{H}}_{ 2} {\text{O)}}}}\) (r = 0.43–0.57, p < 0.001) and \({\text{F}}_{{ ( 0. 0 1 {\text{ M CaCl}}_{ 2} )}}\) (r = 0.42–0.79, p < 0.001) in the field experiment. It was concluded that 0.01 M CaCl2 extractable fluoride can be a good indicator of soil F bioavailability to tea plants. The significant correlations among some of the F fractions suggested that F in solution, AlF complexes (AlF2 +, AlF2+) and those bound to organic matter likely represent the available pools to tea plants.
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The study was financially supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of China through the Earmarked Fund for China Agriculture Research System (Project No. CARS 23) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
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Yi, X., Qiao, S., Ma, L. et al. Soil fluoride fractions and their bioavailability to tea plants (Camellia sinensis L.). Environ Geochem Health 39, 1005–1016 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-016-9868-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-016-9868-3