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The Rengen Grassland Experiment: soil contamination by trace elements after 65 years of Ca, N, P and K fertiliser application

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Abstract

The Rengen Grassland Experiment (RGE) was established in the Eifel Mts. (Germany) on a low productive Nardetum in 1941. Since then, the following fertiliser treatments have been applied along with a two cut system: unfertilised control, Ca, CaN, CaNP, CaNP–KCl and CaNP–K2SO4 with basic slag (syn. Thomas phosphate) as the only P fertiliser. The effect of long-term fertilisation on plant-available (extracted with 0.01 mol l−1 CaCl2), easily-mobilisable (extracted with 0.05 mol l−1 EDTA), potentially-mobilisable (extracted with 2 mol l−1 HNO3) and total concentrations of trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the top 0–10 and 10–20 cm of soil were investigated in 2006. According to redundancy analysis (RDA), the effect of treatment on the concentrations of risk elements was significant and explained 82.3 and 90.6% of the variability in the data in the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers, respectively. Basic slag supplied the soil with considerable amounts of As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn. Following 65 years of fertiliser application the concentrations of risk elements in the soil profile had increased substantially, especially with basic slag. However, threshold limits for total trace element concentration in soil permitted by Czech national legislation were exceeded only in the case of As. The increase in plant-available As concentrations was most critical as it increased the potential uptake of As by plants in plots fertilised with P. Although P treatments received more than 300 g of Cr ha−1 annually, no effect on plant-available Cr soil content was detected. This contrasted with the accumulation of total Cr in the 0–10 and 10–20 cm soil layers. Furthermore, plant availability of Cd, Fe, Mn and Zn was affected by soil pH and generally decreased with the application of quick lime. Plant availability of these elements was not correlated with amounts supplied by fertilisers.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the technical support of all staff members at the Rengen Experimental Station throughout the existence of the RGE. Special thanks for managing the experiment and soil sampling go to Dieter Hoffman-Gaber and Manfred Schwickerath. The authors thank Věra Semelová for her assistance during laboratory work and anonymous reviewers for useful comments on the manuscript. Data collection and finalisation of the paper was supported by Czech projects MA 0002700601, GAČR 521/08/1131, GAČR 205/06/0298 and MSM 6046070901.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Environment, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Michal Hejcman & Petr Šrek

  2. Division of Plant Nutrition, Crop Research Institute, Drnovká 507, 161 06, Praha 6 – Ruzyne, Czech Republic

    Michal Hejcman & Petr Šrek

  3. Department of Agrochemistry and Plant Nutrition, Czech University of Life Sciences, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Prague 6 – Suchdol, Czech Republic

    Jiřina Szaková & Pavel Tlustoš

  4. Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115, Bonn, Germany

    Jürgen Schellberg

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  1. Michal Hejcman
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  2. Jiřina Szaková
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  3. Jürgen Schellberg
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  4. Petr Šrek
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Correspondence to Jürgen Schellberg.

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Hejcman, M., Szaková, J., Schellberg, J. et al. The Rengen Grassland Experiment: soil contamination by trace elements after 65 years of Ca, N, P and K fertiliser application. Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 83, 39–50 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-008-9197-8

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