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Agronomy
Special Issues
Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soils: Treatment and Restoration
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Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soils: Treatment and Restoration

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant-Crop Biology and Biochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 December 2022) | Viewed by 3558

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Monica Butnariu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Discipline, Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine “King Michael I of Romania” from Timisoara, 300645 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: agricultural chemistry; material chemistry; bioeconomy; ethics expert of EC_REA
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Soil pollution with heavy metals (HMs) is common, involving dangerously high concentrations of HMs in the soil. The effects of HM soil pollution can be extremely detrimental to the soil, plant growth and entire habitats. In addition, HM soil pollution has a direct impact on food security due to the fact that the health of the soil significantly affects the quality and safety of the food we eat. The aim and scope of this Special Issue is to highlight the most relevant information on the determination of HMs, how these elements influence the biochemical mechanisms of plant development and also the latest treatment and restoration techniques, for example the use of living organisms (some plant species have the ability to store HMs in their roots) to improve and restore the ecological status of polluted soil, modern treatment technologies to reduce the toxicity of HM cations, the determination of the enzymatic activity of the soil, etc. We encourage any manuscript, critical article or report which include research on the determination, reduction or removal of HMs from the soil; the impact of HMs on soil properties; methods of analysis for soil characterization; in situ or ex situ assessment of soil contamination with HMs; demonstrating the functionality of treatment and restoration methods, etc.

Dr. Monica Butnariu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Agronomy is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • heavy metal
  • soil pollution
  • enzymatic activity of the soil
  • treatment methods
  • restoration methods

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 13196 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soil, Irrigation Water, and Vegetables in and Nearby the Cupriferous City of Lubumbashi, (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
by Félicien Mununga Katebe, Pierre Raulier, Gilles Colinet, Mylor Ngoy Shutcha, Michel Mpundu Mubemba and M. Haïssam Jijakli
Agronomy 2023, 13(2), 357; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13020357 - 26 Jan 2023
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2280
Abstract
Lubumbashi (DR Congo)—the capital of copper mining—has been considered as one of the richest mining regions of the world for more than a decade. These riches have brought along multiple mining companies responsible for soil, river water and vegetable pollution, as in many [...] Read more.
Lubumbashi (DR Congo)—the capital of copper mining—has been considered as one of the richest mining regions of the world for more than a decade. These riches have brought along multiple mining companies responsible for soil, river water and vegetable pollution, as in many African cities. The aim of the present study was to quantify and evaluate the pollution levels and the potential sources of soil, irrigation water and vegetable contamination by the metals As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Co and Zn in the urban gardens of Lubumbashi (DR Congo). The contamination, pollution and enrichment levels of the gardens were determined based on different indices in order to rank the soils. The results show that soils, waters and vegetables present contamination levels that represent a serious concern for human health. All soils presented contamination indices ranging from low (72% of the soils) to very high (3.4% of the soils) metal (copper, lead, zinc) contamination. The Cu and Cd contents varied between 1355 mg/kg et 236 mg/kg, much higher than the World Health Organisation (WHO) thresholds (100 mg/kg for Cu and 2 mg/kg for Cd). Moreover, the water used for crop and garden irrigation presented high Pb (57% of the waters), Fe (52%), Cu (19%) and Cd (10%) contamination levels, above the Association Française de Normalisation (AFNOR) U4441 toxicity thresholds (2 mg/kg for Cu; 0.1 mg/kg for Fe and 0.01 mg/kg for Pb) for crop irrigation. Finally, the vegetables produced in these gardens and sold in the local markets had very high metal content (47% contained Cu; 100% contained copper and cobalt) above the WHO standard (10 mg/kg for Cu, 2 mg/kg for Cd and 1 mg/kg for Co) for human consumption. In the face of these issues, it would be preferable to consider cheaper, more sustainable techniques that reduce soil-to-plant metal transfer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soils: Treatment and Restoration)
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15 pages, 1300 KiB  
Article
Effects of Different Carbon Types on the Growth and Chromium Accumulation of Peach Trees under Chromium Stress
by Huaifeng Gao, Xiaoqing Yang, Nana Wang, Maoxiang Sun, Yuansong Xiao and Futian Peng
Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2814; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112814 - 11 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 973
Abstract
Heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil is a serious problem, which threatens the environment and human safety. In this study, the effects of biochar (BC), activated carbon (AC), and nanocarbon (NC) on the growth of peach trees under chromium (Cr) stress were investigated [...] Read more.
Heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil is a serious problem, which threatens the environment and human safety. In this study, the effects of biochar (BC), activated carbon (AC), and nanocarbon (NC) on the growth of peach trees under chromium (Cr) stress were investigated through pot experiments. The experimental results showed that under Cr stress, BC, AC, and NC could increase the soil nutrient content and enhance the soil enzyme activity. Moreover, all carbon forms promoted the conversion of Cr speciation; decreased the content of exchangeable (EXE), carbonate-bound (CARB), and iron–manganese-oxide-bound (FeMnO) Cr in the soil; increased the organic-bound (Org) and precipitated (Pre) Cr content; and reduced Cr availability. After BC, AC, and NC treatment, the content of Org-Cr in the soil increased by 86.05%, 72.97%, and 65.02%; the content of EXE-Cr decreased by 75.30%, 75.33%, and 73.10% compared with the control under severe Cr treatment, respectively. Moreover, the accumulation of Cr in plants decreased by 29.70%, 22.07%, and 20.52%, respectively. At the same time, these three carbons reduced the accumulation of Cr in various parts of the peach tree, alleviated the oxidative damage caused by Cr stress, effectively protected the photosystem of the leaves, improved the photosynthetic capacity, and promoted the growth of the peach tree. Compared with the control, the dry matter accumulation increased by 20.81%, 9.54%, and 6.95% with BC, AC, and NC treatment under severe Cr treatment. Therefore, BC, AC, and NC can all effectively alleviate soil Cr toxicity, and BC has the best effect, which can be popularized in production. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Heavy Metal Pollution of Agricultural Soils: Treatment and Restoration)
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