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Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls

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A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil-Sediment-Water Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 June 2023) | Viewed by 7366

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Yi Wang

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Guest Editor

College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
Interests: soil acidification and salinization; agricultural non-point source pollution; agricultural productivity; ecological service function
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Ying Zhao

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Guest Editor

1. College of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, China
2. College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University, Yangling 712100, China
Interests: soil physics; soil degradation; saline-alkaline land; hydrological modelling; agricultural productivity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Gang Wang

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Guest Editor

Department of Soil and Water Sciences, China Agricultural University (CAU), Beijing 100193, China
Interests: multi-scales interactions of microbes with environments; soil and water source quality controls; mass flow dynamics and transport; Land-Water-Food-Energy nexus
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Xingmei Liu

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Guest Editor

College of Environment and Natural Resources, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: soil pollution and food safety; soil health; heavy metal remediation; health risk assessment

Prof. Dr. Jiuyu Li

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Guest Editor

Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
Interests: soil acidification and its control

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Agricultural soil pollution, induced by chemical fertilizer (soil nutrient enrichment, soil acidification), heavy metals, pesticides and herbicides, antibiotics, microplastics and others, has aroused considerable concern on soil sustainability, environmental risks, agricultural product safety and human health worldwide. Deep insights into the status of agricultural soil pollution benefits to enhance the security and sustainability have been described. Therefore, it is urgently required to elucidate the causes, status, and mechanisms of various agricultural soil pollution and to numerically model and assess the pollutant impacts on environmental risks and sustainability, as it is the premise for restoring soil quality, ensuring reasonable controls for soil and human health issues, and sustaining agro-ecological service function. For this Special Issue, we invite papers that include but are not restricted to the following topics about agricultural soil.

High-tech in agricultural soil pollution mapping, monitoring, and assessment.
Causes, status, and pollution mechanisms of agricultural soil pollution.
Quantitative relationship among the input, accumulation, transportation, transformation, and pollution status of agricultural soil pollutants.
Impacts of agricultural soil pollution on agricultural product safety, human health, and ecological sustainability.
Numerical simulation and scenario analysis of agricultural soil pollution.
Controlling and remediation approaches of agricultural soil pollution.

Prof. Dr. Yi Wang
Prof. Dr. Ying Zhao
Prof. Dr. Gang Wang
Prof. Dr. Xingmei Liu
Prof. Dr. Jiuyu Li
Guest Editors

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. Land 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

non-point source pollution
heavy metal
pesticide and herbicide
microplastics
antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs)
pollution mechanism
modelling
agricultural sustainability
soil and human health
pollution controlling and remediation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 4682 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Side-Deep Fertilization Stabilizes Double-Cropping Rice Yield, Increases N and P Utilization, and Reduces N and P Losses

by Kun Hou, Lian Zhang, Ping Liu, Shifu He, Xiangmin Rong, Jianwei Peng, Yuping Zhang, Chang Tian and Yongliang Han

Land 2023, 12(3), 724; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030724 - 22 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1214

Abstract

(1) Background: the broadcast is an outdated fertilization method with a low fertilizer-utilization rate and environmental problems, which seriously restricts the development of agriculture. (2) Methods: Under a machine-transplanted rice with side-deep fertilization (MRSF) mode, five treatments were applied: 0 cm (D0), 5 cm (D5), 7.5 cm (D7.5), and 10 cm (D10), comprising four different depths of fertilization, and no fertilization (CK). The yield, the accumulation of N and P in the straw and in grains of rice, concentrations of N and P in the surface water, ammonia (NH₃) volatilization, and soil nutrients were measured in rice fields. (3) Results: In rice yields, compared with the D0 treatment, only the D7.5 treatment significantly increased by 7.84% in late rice, while the other treatments showed no significant difference between early and late rice. The N- and P-use efficiency of D10 increased by 5.30–24.73% and 0.84–17.75%, respectively, compared with the D0-D7.5 treatments. In surface water, compared with the D0 treatment, D5, D7.5, and D10, the total N (TN), total P (TP) concentration, and NH₃ volatilization decreased by 10.24–60.76%, 16.30–31.01%, and 34.78–86.08%, respectively; the D10 treatment had the best inhibition effect on the TN, TP concentration, and NH₃ volatilization, which were 58.48–60.76%, 22.04–31.01%, and 77.21–86.08%, respectively. (4) Conclusions: The optimized depth for side-deep fertilization was 10 cm. We would like to emphasize the impact of the paddy on various deep fertilizations and provide an important reference for developing precise fertilization in rice fields in this area. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls)

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21 pages, 3073 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Topography, Soil Elemental Stoichiometry and Landscape Structure Determine the Nitrogen and Phosphorus Loadings of Agricultural Catchments in the Subtropics

by Yong Li, Yi Wang, Ji Liu, Meihui Wang, Jianlin Shen and Xinliang Liu

Land 2023, 12(3), 568; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12030568 - 26 Feb 2023

Viewed by 1382

Abstract

The control of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) loadings to receiving waters is often overcompensated for by catchment planners. The objectives of this study, which investigated nine catchments in the subtropics of China, were to (i) quantify the explicit relationships between the N and P loadings to receiving waters and the topographic, soil and landscape characteristics of catchments, (ii) identify key impact factors and (iii) identify the most influential N and P loading pathways via catchments. Our collective data indicated that elevation–relief ratio, soil elemental stoichiometry and landscape structure determined the N and P loadings of the studied agricultural catchments. The N export from catchments characterized by a woodland backdrop (Masson pine) mosaic with the intrusion of paddy fields in the subtropics was postulated to be driven by two simultaneous processes: discharge and retention. In addition, a soil C:P threshold ratio for the catchment N and P loadings was estimated to be in the range of 107–117. Our PLS-SEM path analyses suggested that to reduce the N export from agricultural catchments in the subtropics, mitigation practices in landscape ecosystems (e.g., landscape patterns, ditches and streams) need to be taken into consideration and predominantly deployed, despite traditional measures used for soils. Strategies to lower the catchment P export can be directly proposed at the source site. Our findings provide greater insights into the transport and retention of N and P nutrients through catchments and may optimally direct the focus of catchment planners, thus increasing the control efficacy of catchment N and P losses. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls)

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14 pages, 2753 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conversion of Forest Hillslopes into Tea Fields Increases Soil Nutrient Losses through Surface Runoff

by Yi Wang, Xinliang Liu, Yantai Gan, Yong Li and Ying Zhao

Land 2023, 12(2), 448; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020448 - 09 Feb 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1151

Abstract

The conversion of forest hillslopes into tea fields changes the slope structure, soil properties, and vegetation, which may increase the great variations in the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) losses through the surface runoff and induce agricultural non-point source pollution, particularly during the first years of conversion. Therefore, a natural forest system and a newly reclaimed tea system were compared to determine the land use conversion effects on the surface runoff and resulting N and P losses during 2013–2016. The results showed that the soil bulk density (BD) at all the depths and the saturated soil conductivities (Ks) in the surface soil were higher in the tea system than in the forest system, indicating that great land use conversion impacts soil’s physical and hydraulic properties. The annual surface runoff volumes and ratios were significantly higher in the tea system than in the forest system (p < 0.05), and this increased surface runoff was largely attributed to the slope structure and soil property changes. The total P (TP), dissolved P (DP), and particle P (PP) concentrations in the surface runoff volumes were similar in the two systems, while the total N (TN) concentrations were higher in the tea system than in the forest system due to the high N fertilizer application rates in the tea system. The percentages of dissolved N (DN) in the TN and particle N (PN) in the TN were, respectively, lower and higher in the tea system than in the forest system, which was associated with increased soil erodibility due to the land use conversion. The mean annual N and P losses through the surface runoff were higher in the tea system (11.07 ± 4.03 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 1.73 ± 0.19 kg P ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) than in the forest system (4.51 ± 0.66 kg N ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ and 0.78 ± 0.18 kg P ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹). The N and P losses exponentially correlated with the surface runoff in both systems; however, the coefficients of determination (R²) were higher in the forest system than in the tea system, indicating that the exponential relationship between the surface runoff and the N and P losses should be more stable in the forest system than in the newly reclaimed tea system. Therefore, more effort should be dedicated to reducing the N and P losses though the surface runoff when forest hillslopes are converted into tea fields, particularly during the first three years of conversion. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls)

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18 pages, 29645 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Agricultural Structure Adjustment on Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Net Anthropogenic Nitrogen Inputs in the Pearl River Basin from 1990 to 2019

by Kai Xu, Jiaogen Zhou, Qiuliang Lei, Wenbiao Wu and Guangxiong Mao

Land 2023, 12(2), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12020311 - 22 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1249

Abstract

Worldwide urbanization has brought dramatic changes in agricultural structures, as well as serious agricultural non-point source pollutions of nitrogen and phosphorus. However, understanding the effect of agricultural structure adjustment on net anthropogenic nitrogen inputs (NANI) has been still limited. In this paper, statistical data from the agricultural statistical Yearbook, the National Economic and Social Development Statistical Bulletin were collected from 1990 to 2019 in the Pearl River Basin, China, and used to analyze the spatial and temporal patterns of NANI and its influencing factors. The results indicated that the agricultural structure adjustment has significantly influenced the spatial and temporal patterns of NANI in the last 30 years in the Pearl River Basin. The NANI decreased from 1990 to 2019, and had a spatial pattern of higher values in the upstream areas and lower in the downstream areas. In terms of the nitrogen input sources of NANI, in the economically developed regions downstream, nitrogen inputs are dominated by food/feed nitrogen, which accounted for an average of 49.6% of total nitrogen inputs. In upstream areas with relatively low economic development, fertilizer nitrogen accounted for an average of 54.9% of total nitrogen inputs. A novel nitrogen input source index of NANI, namely the ratio of agricultural nitrogen inputs to non-agricultural nitrogen inputs of NANI(ASNA), was also proposed to characterize the impact of the agricultural industry restructuring on NANI changes over time. Similar to the characteristics of NANI from 1990 to 2019, the ASNA showed a decreasing trend in the study area. Moreover, agricultural variables (agricultural land area, nitrogen fertilizer consumption and livestock farming density) tended to contribute less to the explained ASNA variances, while the contributions of the non-agricultural factors (population density and non-agricultural GDP) increased from 1990 to 2019. This indicated that the contribution of nitrogen inputs from agricultural sources to the NANI decreased while the contribution of nitrogen inputs from non-agricultural sources increased, with the shifts of agricultural sectors to the secondary and tertiary sectors in the Pearl River Basin. Our findings also suggest that differently regional targeting should be considered for the nitrogen pollution management in the Pearl River Basin, which focuses on the nitrogen pollution management of non-agricultural sources in the downstream areas, and but highlights agricultural nitrogen pollution management in the upstream areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls)

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18 pages, 5097 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modelling of Water and Nitrogen Flow in a Rain-Fed Ridge-Furrow Maize System with Plastic Mulch

by Wei Zhu, Ruiquan Qiao and Rui Jiang

Land 2022, 11(9), 1514; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11091514 - 08 Sep 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1098

Abstract

Soil water and nitrogen are two important factors in the agro-ecosystem of the Loess Plateau, China. The ridge-furrow maize system with plastic mulch (RFPM) is a widely used measure to increase crop yield in the Loess Plateau area. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the RFPM on soil water and inorganic nitrogen (N) distribution, especially with regard to the risk and dynamic of nitrogen losses, by using Hydrus-2D. The study was conducted over two consecutive years and consisted of two treatments: (i) the RFPM with the split application of nitrogen in 2013 (160 + 60 kg N ha⁻¹, sowing and jointing stage) and (ii) the RFPM with a one-time fertilizer in 2014 (220 kg N ha⁻¹, sowing stage). The results showed that the dynamic of soil water and nitrogen was clearly illustrated by Hydrus-2D, especially with regard to the nitrogen losses and utilization. The RFPM improved soil water consumption in both the ridge and the furrow; the soil water content was obviously fluctuating during the maize growing season, and the degree of fluctuation decreased as the depth increased. The soil

{N H}_{4}^{+}

-N concentration was mainly accumulated in the surface soil layer +15–10 cm; the highest

{N H}_{4}^{+}

-N concentrations were 69.12 and 104.62 mg·kg⁻¹ in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The highest

{N O}_{3}^{-}

-N concentrations were 130.86 and 198.20 mg·kg⁻¹ in 2013 and 2014, respectively. There was an exchange of

{N O}_{3}^{-}

-N between the ridge and the furrow when urea was applied in the furrow. The one-time fertilizer caused a high risk of NH₃ volatilization; they were 20.40 and 27.41 kg N ha⁻¹ in 2013 and 2014, respectively, which accounted for 9.27% and 12.46% of the N fertilizer inputs in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The rate of nitrite leaching was higher in the furrow than the ridge. However, a proper ratio of the split application of nitrogen would contribute to the

{N O}_{3}^{-}

-N leaching reduction; the

{N O}_{3}^{-}

-N leaching amounts were 18.13 and 31.26 kg N ha⁻¹, which accounted for 8.24% and 14.21% of the N fertilizer inputs in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Our study indicates, therefore, that the RFPM with a split application of nitrogen would be more effective for the nitrogen losses; the RFPM is a suitable system for agriculture in the rain-fed area of the Loess Plateau, with the benefits of water-use efficiency and non-point source pollution reduction. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Status in Agricultural Soil Pollution and Its Controls)

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