Abstract
Winter-wheat–summer-maize rotations are important cropping patterns in China, and the quality of the food produced from these systems can affect human health. However, the effects of heavy metal pollution on both crops remain unclear. We analyzed soil-wheat and soil-maize samples from eastern China for their Cd, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, and Pb contents. The concentrations of these metals in the soils analyzed were found to be lower than those recommended by the national guidelines, but the Cd, Cr, Cu, and Ni concentrations were higher than the natural soil background values in China. Quality indices showed that subpollution was predominant in wheat/maize (95.00%/81.25%) samples. Positive matrix factorization model data revealed that the contributions from natural sources, agricultural activities, and traffic to the heavy metal pollution levels were 30.40–43.07%, 34.67–26.63%, and 34.92–30.27%, respectively, in the wheat–maize rotations. Although the health hazard quotient values for wheat were higher than those for maize, there were no health risks for children or adults.
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This work was supported by the Major Basic Research Projects of Shandong Natural Science Foundation [Grant No. ZR2018ZC2363], the National Key Research and Development Program [Grant No. 2018YFD0800303], and the Shandong Geological Exploration Fund [Grant No. 201656]. These funding sources did not play any role in the research or writing of this paper.
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FW was involved in the investigation, methodology, and writing—original draft. YT contributed to the validation and methodology. XZ was involved in the validation and data curation. LY contributed to the investigation and software. HP was involved in the writing—review and editing. HW contributed to the writing—review and editing. QY contributed to the writing—review and editing. YL was involved in the conceptualization, writing—review and editing, and supervision. YZ contributed to the conceptualization, writing—review and editing, project administration, and funding acquisition.
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Wan, F., Teng, Y., Zhang, X. et al. Pollution assessment, source identification, and health risks of heavy metals: a case study in a typical wheat–maize rotation area of eastern China. Environ Geochem Health 44, 2669–2684 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01069-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-021-01069-9