Correlation between soil characteristics and lead and cadmium content in the aboveground biomass of Virginia tobacco

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment 2010-04, Vol.163 (1-4), p.253-261
• Main Authors: Zaprjanova, Penka, Dospatliev, Lilko, Angelova, Violina, Ivanov, Krasimir
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Absorption; Accuracy; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Applied ecology; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biological and medical sciences; Biomass; Cadmium; Cadmium - analysis; Correlation analysis; Decomposing organic matter; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on plants and fungi; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental monitoring; Forest soils; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Heavy metal content; Humus; Lead; Lead - analysis; Leaves; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Nicotiana - chemistry; Plants (organisms); Puritanism; Reference materials; Reference Standards; Regression analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Samples; Soil (material); Soil contaminants; Soil pH; Soil Pollutants - analysis; Spectral analysis; Spectrophotometry, Atomic; Statistical methods; Studies; Tobacco; Uptake; Virginia tobacco
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-009-0831-y

The study was conducted on alluvial-meadow, maroon-forest soils and vertisols with Virginia tobacco. The total content of lead and cadmium is measured through decomposition by HF, HClO₄, and HNO₃ acids. A solution of 0.005 M diethylentriaminepentaacetic acid + 0.1 M triethanolamine, pH 7.3 was used for extraction of the elements' mobile forms from soils. The preparation of plant samples was made by means of dry ashing and dissolution in 3 M HCl. An atomic absorption spectrometer “Spektra AA 220” of the Australian company Varian was used for determination of Pb and Cd content in the soil and plant samples. Certified reference materials (three soils and tobacco leaves) were also analyzed for the verification of the accuracy of Pb and Cd determination. A correlation/regression analysis was conducted between pH, humus content, total and mobile forms of lead and cadmium in the soil, and the concentration of these elements in the aboveground biomass of Virginia tobacco. It was established that there are no statistically significant dependencies determined between soil pH and lead concentration in the plant organs of Virginia tobacco. Regressional dependencies of great significance were determined between the humus content, total and mobile lead and cadmium in the soil, and the element concentration in the leaves of the three harvesting zones.