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Environmental assessment of closed greenhouse vegetable production system in Nanjing, China

  • SOILS, SEC 3 • REMEDIATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CONTAMINATED OR DEGRADED LANDS • RESEARCH ARTICLE
  • Published:
Journal of Soils and Sediments Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

There is growing concern about vegetable safety and environmental contamination resulting from rapid development of greenhouse vegetable production in China.

Materials and methods

This paper presents an integrated study of the quality of soils, vegetables, fertilizers, water, and sediments and indicates the characteristics of primary pollutants such as N, P, and some heavy metals in soils using the spatial analysis. Furthermore, sources of soil pollutants were analyzed combining principal component analysis and vertical mobility results. Also the environment risk was evaluated on greenhouse vegetable production activities in a closed greenhouse vegetable production system in Nanjing City, China.

Results and discussion

Greenhouse vegetable fields, which applied more fertilizers than greenhouse strawberry fields, had serious accumulations of soil N, P, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn, suggested both by principal component analysis and vertical mobility results. This accumulation resulted in high Cd in some vegetables and high concentrations of N and P in irrigation water and groundwater. The result of spatial analysis showed the northwest and north-center regions which featured convenient transportation and irrigation water were the hotspots for pollutant accumulation. Concentrations of pollutants decreased from these regions to the periphery gradually; results further supported by correlation analysis.

Conclusions

The environmental management of this kind of production system should pay more attention to supervising and controlling the quality of agriculture inputs and improving the efficiency of fertilizer. Producers should utilize the soil appropriately based upon the environmental risk associated with different media. Finally, soil properties and plant species should be considered in the future when assessing soil environmental quality.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the funds from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41101491) and the Special Research Foundation of the Public Natural Resource Management Department from the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China (201109018)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Yong Chen, Biao Huang, Wenyou Hu & Lanqin Yang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yong Chen, Biao Huang, Wenyou Hu & Lanqin Yang

  3. Department of Plant and Soil Science, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, USA

    David C. Weindorf

Authors
  1. Yong Chen
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  2. Biao Huang
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  3. Wenyou Hu
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  4. David C. Weindorf
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  5. Lanqin Yang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Biao Huang.

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Responsible editor: Jaco Vangronsveld

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Chen, Y., Huang, B., Hu, W. et al. Environmental assessment of closed greenhouse vegetable production system in Nanjing, China. J Soils Sediments 13, 1418–1429 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0729-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-013-0729-8

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