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Journal of Integrative Agriculture  2019, Vol. 18 Issue (1): 179-189    DOI: 10.1016/S2095-3119(18)61975-6
Agro-ecosystem & Environment Advanced Online Publication | Current Issue | Archive | Adv Search |
Derivation of soil Pb/Cd/As thresholds for safety of vegetable planting: A case study for pakchoi in Guangdong Province, China
LI Fu-rong, WEN Dian, WANG Fu-hua, SUN Fang-fang, WANG Xu, DU Ying-qiong, LIU Xiang-xiang, WAN Kai
Public Monitoring Center for Agro-product of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences/Key Laboratory of Testing and Evaluation for Agro-product Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture/Laboratory of Quality & Safety Risk Assessment for Agro-product (Guangzhou), Ministry of Agriculture, Guangzhou 510640, P.R.China
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Abstract  
Regional guidelines for soil heavy metals, in conjunction with specific crops, are proposed to better assess soil environmental quality.  In this study, large amounts of soils with different levels of Pb/Cd/As pollution were collected in Guangdong Province, China, to carry out a pot experiment, which was closer to the actual situation and properties of the heavy metal contaminated soils.  Taking the widely planted vegetable pakchoi as the research object, we analyzed the correlations between the Pb/Cd/As concentrations in pakchoi and the total or available soil Pb/Cd/As concentrations and established their optimal regression equations.  And then, the total and available soil Pb/Cd/As thresholds for pakchoi were calculated according to the allowable Pb/Cd/As limits in pakchoi and were compared with the current soil assessment standards.  Furthermore, a lot of paired vegetable-soil samples in field were collected and their pollution situations were assessed by both the current limit thresholds and the calculated thresholds.  Obviously, it was more consistent to assess the Cd and As pollution situation of the vegetable and soil samples with the calculated soil thresholds than the current soil assessment thresholds.  It further proved that it was necessary to explore the soil heavy metal thresholds for safety of vegetable in specific regions, which would be more scientific and practical to guide safety production of local agricultural products and effective utilization of soil resources.
Keywords:  heavy metal pollution        available content        soil threshold        correlation analysis        vegetable  
Received: 08 December 2017   Accepted:
Fund: This research was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong, China (2015A030313571), the Guangdong Provincial Science and Technology Projects, China (2014A020208069 and 2013B020204001), and the the Guangdong Provincial Agricultural Standardization Research Project for 2016, China (YCN[2016]310).
Corresponding Authors:  Correspondence WANG Fu-hua, Tel/Fax: +86-20-85161062, E-mail: wfhwqs@163.com    
About author:  LI Fu-rong, Tel/Fax: +86-20-85161203, E-mail: lifr0314@163.com;

Cite this article: 

LI Fu-rong, WEN Dian, WANG Fu-hua, SUN Fang-fang, WANG Xu, DU Ying-qiong, LIU Xiang-xiang, WAN Kai. 2019. Derivation of soil Pb/Cd/As thresholds for safety of vegetable planting: A case study for pakchoi in Guangdong Province, China. Journal of Integrative Agriculture, 18(1): 179-189.

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