Transfer of cadmium, lead, and zinc from industrially contaminated soil to crop plants: A field study

The documeneed adverse health effects of soil Cd and Pb have led to public concern over soil contamination with metals. A 4-year field experiment was conducted to study the transfer of Cd, Pb, and Zn from soil contaminated by smelter flue-dust to crop plants grown in a rotation. The soil was amended with Pb---Zn smelter flue-dust (2–66.8 kg per 10 m2 plot) to simulate the long-term effect that the smelting of non-ferrous metal ore has on arable soils. The treated soil became strongly contaminated with metals (Cd 3.2–106 mg/kg, Pb 146–3452 mg/kg, Zn 465–11 375 mg/kg). Concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Zn in barley grain, barley straw meadow bluegrass, red clover, and potatoes were generally low. The highest metal concentrations were found in potato tubers (intact), meadow bluegrass, and barley straw. The observed reduction in crop yield was probably the result of possible nutrient imbalances rather than of metal (Zn, Cu) phytotoxicities. Zn and Cd uptake by the plants can be described by the saturation (plateau) model (y = axb, b < 1). The relationship between Pb in the soil and plants was linear with an extremely low slope (0.0001–0.0003). No excessive dietary intake of Cd is expected when Cd concentrations in barley grain and potato tubers grown on the contaminated soil are not higher than 0.6 and 1.0 mg/kg, respectively. Based on the risk analysis and taking into account the saturation model of the soil-plant metal relationship, it was concluded that, under the conditions of this experiment (neutral soil pH), soil with Cd concentrations of up to 30 mg/kg is still safe for production of these crop plants.