Combined effect of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on urease activity in soil

Actions and interactions between heavy metals (HM)—cadmium, zinc, lead, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)—phenanthrene, fluoranthene, benzo(a)pyrene toward soil urease activity were studied after 7, 14, 21, and 28 days of exposure under controlled conditions. The experimental approach was based on the uniform design. Ten different contamination conditions were studied simultaneously, with 10 concentration levels for each pollutant. Data treatment was essentially based on the multiple regression technique. The results showed that Zn interacted more easily with PAHs than Pb or Cd. On the first 7 days of incubation, zinc alone reduced the urease activity more significantly than any other pollutants and no significant interactions between PAH and HM were observed. From 14 to 21 days of incubation, the interaction between Zn and benzo(a)pyrene decreased the soil urease activity. At 14 days, the interaction between Zn and phenanthrene was antagonistic (less than additive), while at 21 days it was synergistic (more than additive). At 28 days, the interaction between phenanthrene and fluoranthene was synergistic. This study indicated that the combined effect of PAH and HM on soil urease activity depends largely on the incubation time. Uniform design appears to be a good method for investigating the combined effect of PAH and HM.