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Agronomy
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Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland
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Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2023) | Viewed by 9374

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Haibo Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Engineering, School of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Interests: contaminated environment eemediation; application, fate and eco-effects of engineered nano-materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

One of the key roles of soils is to meet the most basic needs of people, especially agricultural soils, which are the basic nutrients for food crops. Unfortunately, intensive agricultural intensification has aggravated farmland soil pollution in the past several decades. Heavy metals and organic pollutants that have entered or remained in farmland soils have exceeded the soil’s self-purification capacity, which consequently has generated many results, such as a damaged soil ecological balance, degraded soil beneficial organisms and microorganisms, deteriorated soil physical–chemical properties, and decreased soil activity. This Special Issue aims to encourage researchers to share their original point of view in the remediation of heavy metals/organic pollutants/emerging environmental pollutants in contaminated farmland. The scope of the topics will include, but is not limit to, (1) heavy metals contaminated farmland bioremediation, (2) physical/chemical remediation of heavy metals contaminated farmland, (3) bioremediation of organic pollutants contaminated farmland, (4) bioremediation emerging organic pollutants contaminated farmland, and (5) combined pollution farmland soils remediation. This Special Issue welcomes all types of articles, including original research articles, critical and mini-reviews, etc., which are related to the topic of contaminated farmland remediation.

Prof. Dr. Haibo Li
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

  • farmland
  • soil
  • remediation
  • heavy metals
  • organic pollutant
  • combined pollution of soil

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 4494 KiB  
Article
Cadmium (Cd) Minimization and Zinc (Zn) Biofortification in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Grains by Spraying with the Foliar Zn Fertilizer in Cd-Contaminated Fields
by Min Lu, Changbo Yuan, Yuankun Liu, Ying Feng, Bin Qi, Zhenli He and Xiaoe Yang
Agronomy 2024, 14(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy14010018 - 20 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1288
Abstract
The foliar application of zinc (Zn) has been regarded as a practical and economical way to reduce grain cadmium (Cd) accumulation and enhance grain quality in crops. Herein, a two-year field experiment was carried out to examine the efficacy of different application rates [...] Read more.
The foliar application of zinc (Zn) has been regarded as a practical and economical way to reduce grain cadmium (Cd) accumulation and enhance grain quality in crops. Herein, a two-year field experiment was carried out to examine the efficacy of different application rates of the foliar Zn fertilizer in Cd reduction and microelement biofortification in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains. The results show that the T4 and T5 treatments, 500 and 250-fold dilution of the foliar Zn fertilizer, respectively, increased the grain yield to varying degrees in the two years. When compared with controls and based on the average of the two years’ results, spraying with the foliar Zn fertilizer remarkably decreased grain Cd concentrations (44.5%), Cd translocation from stem to grain (TFStem/Grain) (4.92%), the HRI values of Cd (45.5%), PA/Ca (27.8%), PA/Fe (21.4%) and PA/Mn (5.81%) under the T2 treatment (1000-fold dilution). Furthermore, the T2 treatment significantly increased the Zn (37.8%), Ca (48.9%), Fe (37.6%), Mn (14.8%) and total protein (7.92%) contents and the estimated Zn bioavailability (28.9%) in wheat grains after two years. All these findings suggest that the foliar Zn fertilizer holds considerable promise as a safe crop production technique and a means of mitigating “hidden hunger” in developing countries. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland)
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21 pages, 1803 KiB  
Article
Co-Composting of Hop Bines and Wood-Based Biochar: Effects on Composting and Plant Growth in Copper-Contaminated Soils
by Johannes Görl, Dieter Lohr, Elke Meinken and Kurt-Jürgen Hülsbergen
Agronomy 2023, 13(12), 3065; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13123065 - 15 Dec 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1472
Abstract
Decades of intensive use of copper-based fungicides against downy mildew in hops has led to considerable accumulation of copper in topsoil, resulting in toxic effects on plants. Due to its high sorption capacity, the application of co-composted biochar compost might reduce copper toxicity, [...] Read more.
Decades of intensive use of copper-based fungicides against downy mildew in hops has led to considerable accumulation of copper in topsoil, resulting in toxic effects on plants. Due to its high sorption capacity, the application of co-composted biochar compost might reduce copper toxicity, whereby a synergistic effect of the composting process is supposed to occur. Furthermore, biochar addition might improve the composting process itself. Therefore, hop bines were co-composted without as well as with 5 and 20 vol% biochar, respectively. During composting, the temperature and concentration of O2, CO2, H2S, CH4 and NH3 in the compost heaps were regularly recorded. The biochar-free compost as well as the two composts with the biochar addition were characterized with regard to their plant-growing properties and were mixed into soils artificially spiked with different amounts of copper as well as into copper-polluted hop garden and apple orchard soils. The respective soil without the compost addition was used as the control, and further treatments with biochar alone and in combination with biochar-free compost were included in a plant response test with Chinese cabbage. The biochar addition increased the temperature within the compost heaps by about 30 °C and extended the duration of the thermophilic phase by almost 30 days, resulting in a higher degree of hygienization. Furthermore, the application of co-composted biochar composts significantly improved plant biomass by up to 148% and reduced the copper concentration, especially of roots, by up to 35%. However, no significant differences in the biochar-free compost were found in the artificially copper-spiked soils, and the effect of co-composted biochar compost did not differ from the effect of biochar alone and in combination with biochar-free compost. Nevertheless, the co-composting of hop bines with biochar is recommended to benefit from the positive side effect of improved sanitization in addition to reducing copper toxicity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland)
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17 pages, 4077 KiB  
Article
Changes in Soil Chemical Properties and Rhizosphere Bacterial Community Induced by Soil Amendments Associated with Reduction in Cadmium Accumulation by Rice
by Yu Xin, Min Liu, Lanchun Wei, Yu Gao, Yunze Ruan, Qing Wang and Zhijun Zhang
Agronomy 2023, 13(12), 3051; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy13123051 - 13 Dec 2023
Viewed by 1183
Abstract
Soil amendments have been extensively employed for the purpose of remediating soils contaminated with cadmium (Cd). However, the potential impacts of soil amendments on soil chemical properties, soil Cd bioavailability, total Cd accumulation by rice, and rhizosphere bacterial community in Cd-contaminated paddy fields [...] Read more.
Soil amendments have been extensively employed for the purpose of remediating soils contaminated with cadmium (Cd). However, the potential impacts of soil amendments on soil chemical properties, soil Cd bioavailability, total Cd accumulation by rice, and rhizosphere bacterial community in Cd-contaminated paddy fields located in a tropical region is still at its infancy. In this study, a commercial MgO-CaO-SiO2 conditioner (A), biochar (B), and a combination of the commercial MgO-CaO-SiO2 conditioner and biochar with a ratio of 1:1 (C) were applied at two different doses [2250 kg ha−1 (A150, B150, C150), 4500 kg ha−1 (A300, B300, C300)] to investigate their impacts on soil Cd stabilization and total Cd uptake of rice straw and grain in a Cd-contaminated remediation field experiment. Rhizosphere bacterial community diversity and composition were also assessed using high-throughput sequencing based on 16S rRNA genes. Compared with non-amendment treatment (CK), soil pH, cation exchange capacity (CEC), organic matter (OM), total nitrogen (TN), available nitrogen (AN), and nitrate (NO3−) concentrations were significantly elevated, whereas ammonium (NH4+) and soil available Cd concentrations were reduced by soil amendment treatments. Meanwhile, soil amendments significantly decreased concentrations of total Cd in both rice straw and grain, with the lowest Cd concentration in the C300 treatment. Soil pH and CEC were significantly and negatively associated with soil Cd availability and rice straw and grain Cd concentrations, while NH4+ concentration was positively correlated with soil available Cd concentration, and OM, TN, and NO3− concentrations were positively linked with rice grain Cd concentration. Soil amendments significantly increased bacterial Chao 1 and Shannon indexes and altered bacterial community composition in rhizosphere soil, due to changes in the composition of the community primarily influenced by variations in soil pH, CEC, and soil available Cd, NH4+, available phosphorous (AP) and available Potassium (AK) concentrations. Furthermore, the abundant bacterial species (Pseudomonas) and rare bacterial species (Bacillus, Candidatus_Solibacter and Streptomyces) have been up-regulated by different soil amendments, which might be in favour of soil Cd immobilization. A structural equation model also showed that soil amendments could improve bacterial diversity and change soil pH and CEC, which were conducive to hindering the removal and conversion of Cd. Overall, these results indicate that biochar-(MgO-CaO-SiO2) mixed amendments at high dosage exerted better performance compared with single application soil amendment A and B. The changes in soil chemical properties, available Cd content, and rhizosphere bacterial community assembly induced by soil amendments are closely correlated with the decrease in rice’s ability to accumulate Cd. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland)
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13 pages, 3315 KiB  
Article
Plant and Microorganism Combined Degradation of Bensulfuron Herbicide in Eight Different Agricultural Soils
by Yanan Zhang, Xin Wang, Wenrui Liu and Ling Ge
Agronomy 2022, 12(12), 2989; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12122989 - 28 Nov 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1819
Abstract
Sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) are widely used throughout the world. In this paper, the degradation of sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) in eight different agricultural soils was studied by exploring the synergism between microbial consortium (MC) and plants. In the experiment, chlorimuron with a concentration of [...] Read more.
Sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) are widely used throughout the world. In this paper, the degradation of sulfonylurea herbicides (SH) in eight different agricultural soils was studied by exploring the synergism between microbial consortium (MC) and plants. In the experiment, chlorimuron with a concentration of 50 mg/L was used as the only carbon source to domesticate and prepare the MC. The degradation of six sulfonylurea herbicides was determined, among which bensulfuron (BN), due to its better degradation effects, was selected. The best degradation conditions of BN were determined as follows: pH 7, 20 °C, and BN concentration 20 mg/L, and after 20 days, the degradation rate of BN by MC reached 90.49%. The physical and chemical properties of eight different agricultural soils were compared, and the correlation between them and the degradation effect of BN was analyzed. When plants were combined with 3% MC to remediate BN-contaminated soil, it was beneficial to plant growth, and the degradation rate of BN was the highest (81%) after 25 days. In addition, the content of soil urease and soil catalase in the soil increased to 449 ug/g and 12.19 mmol/g after 25 days of combined remediation. The results showed an effective bioremediation strategy to restore agricultural soil contaminated by BN. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland)
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18 pages, 4384 KiB  
Article
Combination of GIS and Multivariate Analysis to Assess the Soil Heavy Metal Contamination in Some Arid Zones
by Radwa A. El Behairy, Ahmed A. El Baroudy, Mahmoud M. Ibrahim, Elsayed Said Mohamed, Nazih Y. Rebouh and Mohamed S. Shokr
Agronomy 2022, 12(11), 2871; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12112871 - 16 Nov 2022
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 2721
Abstract
Recent decades have witnessed a danger to food security as well as to human health because of pollutants’ negative impact on crop quality. An accurate estimate of the heavy metal concentrations in Egypt’s north Nile Delta is required to lower the high concentration [...] Read more.
Recent decades have witnessed a danger to food security as well as to human health because of pollutants’ negative impact on crop quality. An accurate estimate of the heavy metal concentrations in Egypt’s north Nile Delta is required to lower the high concentration levels of heavy metal in the soil as a means to develop a remediation strategy that stabilizes heavy metals in contaminated soil. Using a geo-accumulation index (I-geo), contamination factor (CF), Improved Nemerow’s Pollution Index (Pn), and Potential Ecological Risk Index (PERI), supported by GIS; principal component analysis (PCA), and cluster analysis, six heavy metals (As, Co, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn) were analyzed from 15 soil profile layers (61 soil samples) to determine the extent of the soil contamination in the area studied. The findings demonstrate the widespread I-geo contamination of As, Co, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn in different layers. The ranges for the I-geo values were from −8.2 to 5.3; 4.11 to 1.8; 6.4 to 1.9; −9.7 to 2.8; −6.3 to 2.9; and from −12.5 to 2.4 for As, Co, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn, respectively. I-geo categorization therefore ranged from uncontaminated to strongly/extremely contaminated. The CF values varied from 0.01 to 60.6; 0.09 to 5.17; 0.02 to 10.51; 0 to 10.51; 0.02 to 7.12; and 0 to 7.68 for As, Co, Cu, Ni, V, and Zn, respectively. In decreasing sequence, the CFs are arranged as follows: CF (As), CF (Ni), CF (Zn), CF (V), CF (Cu), and CF (Co). Most of the research region (71.9%) consisted of a class of moderately to heavily polluted areas. Additionally, a large portion of the study region (49.17%) has a very high risk of contamination, as per the results of the PERI index. The use of a correlation matrix, cluster analysis, and principal component analysis(PCA) to evaluate the variability in the soil’s chemical content revealed the impact from anthropogenic activities on the heavy metal concentration levels in the study area’s soil. The current findings reflect the poor quality of management in the research region, which led to the increase in the concentration of heavy metals in the soil. Decision-makers could use the outcomes from the spatial distribution maps for contaminants and their levels as a basis for creating heavy metal mitigation strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Remediation of Heavy Metal/Organic Pollutant Contaminated Farmland)
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