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Potentially Toxic Elements and Agrochemicals: Prevalence, Health Implications, and Sustainable Management of Agroecosystems

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Agriculture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2024) | Viewed by 4840

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Prafulla Kumar Sahoo

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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda 151401, Punjab, India
Interests: biochar preparation method and application in soil/water resource management; regional-scale geochemical mapping; fate and mobility of potentially toxic elements in soil-rhizosphere-plant system; metal contamination of food crops; hydrogeochemistry; groundwater contamination and health risk assessment; geochemistry of acid mine drainage; environmental remediation; paleo weathering and paleoclimate reconstruction using lake sediment geochemical proxies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Mike A. Powell

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Department of Renewable Resources, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
Interests: understanding the soil–plant–water nexus and how this interaction affects agricultural production; the "wise" use of coal combustion "waste" to remineralize soils and increase yields; building research capacity and the use of research findings to inform policy and strategic research planning

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Potentially toxic elements (PTE) (e.g., As, Cd, Pb, Cd, Cr, Cr, Hg, etc.) are not only threatening water and soil bodies but are also a big issue in agroecosystem. Vegetables and cereal crops grown in contaminated regions are one of the greatest threats to food security and human health, as they can readily accumulate elevated levels (beyond recommended limits) in their edible and inedible (fodder) parts. Similarly, pesticides are widely used in producing food to control pests such as insects, rodents, weeds, bacteria, mold, and fungi, which pose serious risks to human health worldwide; this is despite the fact that organic farming is increasing and some countries have applied pesticide regulations and monitoring programs. Accumulated pesticide residues in food products have been associated with a broad variety of human health hazards. Therefore, this issue of food contamination has become a global concern. This is more pronounced in the Asian context, particularly in developing countries, due to the excessive/unsystematic application of pesticides, fertilizers, sewage, and irrigation with wastewater or polluted groundwater, along with rapid urbanization, industrialization, hazardous waste dumping, etc. Irrigation with contaminated groundwater or surface water receiving agrichemical runoff are another major factor in crop composition. Long-term use of contaminated irrigation water and soil amendments leads to high accumulation of PTE in soils, which can be subsequently transferred to the edible and fodder parts of crops via various uptake and translocation mechanisms. Heavy metals enter the plant system through soil or via the atmosphere and can accumulate, affecting physiological processes. However, the accumulation of PTE in food crops is affected by several physico-chemical properties of the soil, environmetnal conditions, soil type, climatic conditions, and crop/plant species. A better understanding of the regulation mechanisms of crop PTE and pesticide accumulation is a prerequisite to improving the safety of the food chain. The main purpose of this Special Issue is to provide the international scientific community with detailed knowledge of the distribution and accumulation of PTE and pesticides in agricultural soil and different crops in several countries around the world and state-of-the-art remediation approaches to manage crop and soil pollution. In addition, this issue will pay special attention to the use of modern analytical techniques for analysis of PTE and pesticides in crops.

The potential topics for this project include, but are not limited to, the following areas, with strict requirements on the quality of research and methodological rigor, practical innovation, and novelty in the research:

(1) The accumulation and partitioning of PTE in soils, vegetable, and cereal crops;

(2) Soil–crop transfer mechanisms of PTE;

(3) Chemical fertilizer and impact on soil and crops;

(4) Impact of sewage/other contaminated irrigated water on vegetables/crops;

(5) Remediation approaches to manage soil and crop metal pollution;

(6) Climate change impact on metal accumulation in crops;

(7) Effects of pesticide use on crop production and crop contamination;

(8) Detection methods of residual pesticides and PTE in food crops;

(9) Sustainable agriculture and management strategies;

(10) Health risk of pesticides and PTE-contaminated vegetable/cereal crops;

(11) Sustainability in crop production;

(12) Eco-friendly/green technology for PTE remediation in soil–crop systems;

(13) Application of phytoremediation in agriculture;

(14) Sustainable biowaste management in crop production.

You are invited to submit manuscripts on these topics for consideration  (the editors also welcome articles on other related topics, which are still closely related to these themes). However, the submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. The Guest Editors will select high-quality research for blind peer review. Reviewers will be selected from researchers who are active in the field and whose works are present in international databases.

Dr. Prafulla Kumar Sahoo
Prof. Dr. Mike A. Powell
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. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2400 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

  • toxic chemicals
  • pesticides
  • soil–plant metal accumulation
  • phytoremediation
  • toxicity
  • human health risk assessment
  • anthropogenic contamination in agrosytems
  • sustainable remediation
  • sustainable risk management

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 1044 KiB  
Article
Chemically Catalyzed Phytoextraction for Sustainable Cleanup of Soil Lead Contamination in a Community Garden in Jersey City, New Jersey
by Zhiming Zhang, Dibyendu Sarkar, Frances Levy and Rupali Datta
Sustainability 2023, 15(9), 7492; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15097492 - 3 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1178
Abstract
Soil lead (Pb) contamination in Pb paint-contaminated homes is a serious health risk in urban areas. Phytoextraction is a green and sustainable technology for soil Pb remediation, but its efficiency depends on the geochemical partitioning of Pb in soil. Following successful laboratory, greenhouse, [...] Read more.
Soil lead (Pb) contamination in Pb paint-contaminated homes is a serious health risk in urban areas. Phytoextraction is a green and sustainable technology for soil Pb remediation, but its efficiency depends on the geochemical partitioning of Pb in soil. Following successful laboratory, greenhouse, and panel experiments, a field study was conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of a chemically catalyzed phytoextraction model for Pb removal. A biodegradable chelating agent, ethylenediaminedisuccinic acid (EDDS) was applied during Pb phytoextraction by vetiver grass (Chrysopogon zizanioides) in a Pb-contaminated community garden in Jersey City, New Jersey. Results showed that soil Pb concentration was reduced from 1144 to 359 mg/kg in 3 years, despite ongoing Pb input to the field plots from a nearby construction site. EDDS was effective in converting non-plant-available forms of Pb (i.e., carbonate-bound, oxide-bound, and organic-bound forms) to plant-available forms (i.e., water-soluble and exchangeable forms). With EDDS application, vetiver roots accumulated 532, 231, and 401 mg/kg of Pb in Years 1, 2, and 3, respectively, which were higher than the values obtained without EDDS applications (228, 154, and 214 mg/kg). This field study demonstrated the effectiveness of a chemically catalyzed phytoextraction model for Pb removal from urban soils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Potentially Toxic Elements and Agrochemicals: Prevalence, Health Implications, and Sustainable Management of Agroecosystems)
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Review

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22 pages, 3623 KiB  
Review
Uranium and Fluoride Accumulation in Vegetable and Cereal Crops: A Review on Current Status and Crop-Wise Differences
by Saloni Sachdeva, Mike A. Powell, Girish Nandini, Hemant Kumar, Rakesh Kumar and Prafulla Kumar Sahoo
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13895; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813895 - 19 Sep 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1129
Abstract
Uranium (U) and fluoride (F−) contamination in agricultural products, especially vegetable and cereal crops, has raised serious concerns about food safety and human health on a global scale. To date, numerous studies have reported U and F− contamination in vegetable [...] Read more.
Uranium (U) and fluoride (F−) contamination in agricultural products, especially vegetable and cereal crops, has raised serious concerns about food safety and human health on a global scale. To date, numerous studies have reported U and F− contamination in vegetable and cereal crops at local scales, but the available information is dispersed, and crop-wise differences are lacking. This paper reviews the current status of knowledge on this subject by compiling relevant published literatures between 1983 and 2023 using databases such as Scopus, PubMed, Medline, ScienceDirect, and Google Scholar. Based on the median values, F− levels ranged from 0.5 to 177 mg/kg, with higher concentrations in non-leafy vegetables, such as Indian squash “Praecitrullus fistulosus” (177 mg/kg) and cucumber “Cucumis sativus” (96.25 mg/kg). For leafy vegetables, the maximum levels were recorded in bathua “Chenopodium album” (72.01 mg/kg) and mint “Mentha arvensis” (44.34 mg/kg), where more than 50% of the vegetable varieties had concentrations of >4 mg/kg. The concentration of U ranged from 0.01 to 17.28 mg/kg; tubers and peels of non-leafy vegetables, particularly radishes “Raphanus sativus” (1.15 mg/kg) and cucumber “Cucumis sativus” (0.42 mg/kg), contained higher levels. These crops have the potential to form organometallic complexes with U, resulting in more severe threats to human health. For cereal crops (based on median values), the maximum F− level was found in bajra “Pennisetum glaucum” (15.18 mg/kg), followed by chana “Cicer arietinum” (7.8 mg/kg) and split green gram “Vigna mungo” (4.14 mg/kg), while the maximum accumulation of U was recorded for barley “Hordeum vulgare” (2.89 mg/kg), followed by split green gram “Vigna mungo” (0.45 mg/kg). There are significant differences in U and F− concentrations in either crop type based on individual studies or countries. These differences can be explained mainly due to changes in geogenic and anthropogenic factors, thereby making policy decisions related to health and intake difficult at even small spatial scales. Methodologies for comprehensive regional—or larger—policy scales will require further research and should include strategies to restrict crop intake in specified “hot spots”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Potentially Toxic Elements and Agrochemicals: Prevalence, Health Implications, and Sustainable Management of Agroecosystems)
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23 pages, 2168 KiB  
Review
Biochar as an Environment-Friendly Alternative for Multiple Applications
by Radheshyam Yadav and Wusirika Ramakrishna
Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13421; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813421 - 7 Sep 2023
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2091
Abstract
The climate crisis and years of unsustainable agricultural practices have reduced soil fertility and crop yield. In addition, agricultural lands contribute more than 10% of greenhouse gases (GHGs). These concerns can be addressed by using biochar for carbon neutralization, environmental restoration, and agricultural [...] Read more.
The climate crisis and years of unsustainable agricultural practices have reduced soil fertility and crop yield. In addition, agricultural lands contribute more than 10% of greenhouse gases (GHGs). These concerns can be addressed by using biochar for carbon neutralization, environmental restoration, and agricultural management. Biochar has a role in nitrous oxide and methane gas emission mitigation from agricultural soil. New methods are needed to link belowground processes to functioning in multi-species and multi-cultivar agroecosystems. The intricate relationship between biochar and the composition of soil microbial communities, along with its impacts on functions within the rhizosphere, constitutes a highly perplexing and elusive subject within microbial genomics. The present review discusses how biochar can mitigate climate change, enhance carbon sequestration, and support crop productivity. Biochar could be a potential solution to mitigate soil microplastics and heavy metal contamination. Applying a biochar-based microbiome reduces polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in soil. The current knowledge and perspectives on biochar–plant–microbial interactions for sustainable agriculture and ameliorating the adverse effects of climate change are highlighted. In this review, a holistic approach was used to emphasize the utility of biochar for multiple applications with positive and negative effects and its role in promoting a functional circular economy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Potentially Toxic Elements and Agrochemicals: Prevalence, Health Implications, and Sustainable Management of Agroecosystems)
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