Transformation Process and Toxic Effects of Pollutants in Agricultural Environment

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Toxicity Reduction and Environmental Remediation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 10 April 2025 | Viewed by 2982

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin 300191, China
Interests: rice; heavy metal pollution; advanced oxidation; metal ions complexes; glutamate receptor; free radical; nano bubble; ionic liquid

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Guest Editor
College of Environment and Ecology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
Interests: biogenic mineralization; heavy metal; rice; biological soil crusts; cadmium; absorption

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Agro-Environmental Protection Institute, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Tianjin 300191, China
Interests: heavy metal; cadmium; ecotoxicological; migration and transportion; soil remediation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The agricultural environment is very important for human beings to survive on earth, especially soil, water, crops, and other factors that are closely related to human health. Pollutants, including heavy metals, emerging pollutants, and microplastics, enter the agricultural environment along with the human production process, posing a certain threat to agricultural safety production, such as excessive heavy metals in agricultural products and pesticide materials, which seriously affect human health. Therefore, it is of great significance to accurately assess the transformation and migration mechanisms of pollutants and their toxicity changes. The source, distribution, migration process of pollutants, and impact of toxic changes on agricultural safety production need to be further studied. It is important to determine the quality and pollution (e.g., the type and degree of pollutants, the source, the distribution in the soil–plant system, and the change in toxicity, etc.) and carry out the research and development of pollution control technologies for ensuring agricultural safety production. The purpose of this Special Issue is to publish submissions on technologies and products that affect the transport of pollutants and their toxicity changes in the agricultural environment. This may involve the agri-environmental behaviors and processes of pollutants, mechanisms affecting distribution, migration, and transformation processes in soil–crop systems, and agri-environmental health risk assessment. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • The quality of the agricultural environment is affected by human production processes;
  • Agricultural environmental pollutants (heavy metals, emerging pollutants, microplastics, etc.);
  • The migration and transformation processes of pollutants and their toxicity changes in the water–soil–crop system are driven by human production activities and environmental factors;
  • Identify the sources of pollutants in the agricultural environment and their impact on agricultural safety;
  • The impact of pollutants in the agricultural environment on food safety production and its treatment technology.

Dr. Changbo Zhang
Dr. Liang Peng
Dr. Weijie Xue
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • heavy metal pollution
  • emerging contaminants
  • contamination remediation
  • contaminated farmland
  • ecotoxicological aspects of the agro-environment
  • microplastics
  • toxicity

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3778 KiB  
Article
Toxicological Analysis of Acetamiprid Degradation by the Dominant Strain Md2 and Its Effect on the Soil Microbial Community
by Jiale Zhang, Xin Wang, Wanlei Yue, Jia Bao, Mengqin Yao and Ling Ge
Toxics 2024, 12(8), 572; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12080572 - 5 Aug 2024
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Abstract
Microbial degradation is acknowledged as a viable and eco-friendly approach for diminishing residues of neonicotinoid insecticides. This study reports the dominant strain of Md2 that degrades acetamiprid was screened from soil and identified as Aspergillus heterochromaticus, and the optimal degradation conditions were [...] Read more.
Microbial degradation is acknowledged as a viable and eco-friendly approach for diminishing residues of neonicotinoid insecticides. This study reports the dominant strain of Md2 that degrades acetamiprid was screened from soil and identified as Aspergillus heterochromaticus, and the optimal degradation conditions were determined. Research indicated that the degradation of Md2 to 100 mg/L acetamiprid was 55.30%. Toxicological analyses of acetamiprid and its metabolites subsequently revealed that acetamiprid and its metabolites inhibited the germination of cabbage seed, inhibited the growth of Escherichia coli, and induced the production of micronuclei in the root tip cells of faba beans. Based on the analysis of metabolic pathways, it has been determined that the primary metabolic routes of acetamiprid include N-demethylation to form IM-2-1 and oxidative cleavage of the cyanoimino group to produce IM-1-3. Using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing, the results showed that acetamiprid and Md2 elevated the relative abundance of Acidithiobacillus, Ascomycetes, and Stramenobacteria, with increases of 10~12%, 6%, and 9%, respectively, while reducing the relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Chlorobacteria, Ascomycetes, and Sporobacteria, with decreases of 15%, 8%, 32%, and 6%, respectively. The findings will facilitate the safety evaluation of the toxicological properties of neonicotinoid insecticides, their biodegradable metabolites, and associated research on their degradation capabilities. Full article
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17 pages, 3145 KiB  
Article
Citric Acid Inhibits Cd Absorption and Transportation by Improving the Antagonism of Essential Elements in Rice Organs
by Kexin Chen, Bozhen Yu, Weijie Xue, Yuebing Sun, Changbo Zhang, Xusheng Gao, Xiaojia Zhou, Yun Deng, Jiarun Yang and Boqian Zhang
Toxics 2024, 12(6), 431; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12060431 - 14 Jun 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1057
Abstract
Excessive cadmium (Cd) in rice is a global environmental problem. Therefore, reducing Cd content in rice is of great significance for ensuring food security and human health. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of foliar application of citric acid (CA) [...] Read more.
Excessive cadmium (Cd) in rice is a global environmental problem. Therefore, reducing Cd content in rice is of great significance for ensuring food security and human health. A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of foliar application of citric acid (CA) on Cd absorption and transportation in rice under high Cd-contaminated soils (2.04 mg·kg−1). This study revealed that there was a negative correlation between Cd content in vegetative organs and CA content, and that foliar spraying of CA (1 mM and 5 mM) significantly increased CA content and reduced Cd content in vegetative organs. The Cd reduction effect of 5 mM CA was better than that of 1 mM, and 5 mM CA reduced Cd content in grains and spikes by 52% and 37%, respectively. CA significantly increased Mn content in vegetative organs and increased Ca/Mn ratios in spikes, flag leaves, and roots. CA significantly reduced soluble Cd content in vegetative organs and promoted the transformation of Cd into insoluble Cd, thus inhibiting the transport of Cd from vegetative organs to grains. The foliar field application of 1 mM and 5 mM CA could inhibit Cd absorption and transportation by reducing Cd bioactivity and increasing the antagonistic of essential elements in rice vegetative organs. These results provide technical support and a theoretical basis for solving the problem of excessive Cd in rice. Full article
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12 pages, 2845 KiB  
Article
Effects of Foliar Spraying of Dicarboxylicdimethylammonium Chloride on Cadmium and Arsenic Accumulation in Rice Grains
by Lin Fu, Jiawei Deng, Dayliana Ruiz Lao, Changbo Zhang, Weijie Xue, Yun Deng and Xin Luo
Toxics 2024, 12(6), 418; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12060418 - 7 Jun 2024
Viewed by 777
Abstract
A field experiment with double cropping rice was carried out to study the foliar application effects of dicarboxylicdimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) on cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) accumulation in rice grains. The results showed that the spraying of DDAC could significantly reduce the accumulation [...] Read more.
A field experiment with double cropping rice was carried out to study the foliar application effects of dicarboxylicdimethylammonium chloride (DDAC) on cadmium (Cd) and arsenic (As) accumulation in rice grains. The results showed that the spraying of DDAC could significantly reduce the accumulation of Cd and As in rice grains. The highest reductions in Cd and As content were observed when 1.5 mmol L−1 DDAC was sprayed, with 49.1% and 27.4% reductions in Cd and As content in early rice grains and 56.5% and 28.1% reductions in Cd and As content in late rice grains, respectively. In addition, the content of calcium (Ca) in rice grains increased significantly after DDAC foliar application, which was also conducive to the synthesis of amino acids such as glutamate (Glu), glycine (Gly) and cysteine (Cys) in rice grains. The results indicated that the foliar spraying of DDAC can inhibit the absorption, transport, accumulation and toxicity of Cd and As in rice grains by increasing amino acid synthesis and regulating the absorption and transport of essential elements. Full article
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